a Certified chain of events
by CapeTownMagician
Summary: Alex Matthews was a fan of Transformers prime, but he never wished to be a part of it. Now he has to find a way home without telling the autobots or decepticons of what he knows about their future. But how can he not become part of the story when he's being hunted by Megatron? (Reviews appreciated)
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue**

Earth's Orbit, 15 April 2012…

The lights were powered down on the _Nemesis, _leaving most of the endless corridors in complete darkness. This might have been seen as an inconvenience for most, but not to Soundwave, thanks to his visor. Soundwave also understood that a large amount of power was needed if he was to succeed in achieving Megatron's latest idea. It seemed ridiculous. Space bridging was complicated enough, but trying to jump into the next reality was regarded as being impossible. Despite the constant problems and failures, Soundwave had managed to adjust the space bridge settings to extend through background radiation , the energy that resides between universes. Tonight would be the main attempt.

"Soundwave." Megatron appeared from the shadows just behind Soundwave's work station. "Are we ready to beta test?"

A confirmation sound from the monitor acted as Soundwave's answer.

"Excellent. Set the output coordinates for the area on Earth known as North America. Our specimen from the other side is no use to us if it is bridged to a place without oxygen if it requires it to survive."

Megatron thought to himself. The Cybertronian ancient texts had once described a universe whose occupants knew of the autobot/decepticon struggle, and knowledge of how it would finally end. He hoped that the specimen would be well informed of future knowledge of the war, and that the specimen would be human. After all, humans were extremely easy to capture. And manipulate…

Cape Town, South Africa, 2 June 2013…

The waterfront was busy that afternoon. Seventeen-year-old Alex Matthews didn't mind though. However he did look out of place, dressed all in black. The club which had asked him to play his saxophone that night was hosting some charity event of sorts. He wasn't getting paid but it did count as charity work, and anyway he needed the experience. Since the event was only taking place that evening, he had time on his hands. He would have rather spent it reading fanfiction, but nobody had posted anything new within the last 24 hours. He was excited to watch "Thirst" but that was still half a day away because of the time difference in America. Besides, it was good to get some fresh air. Suddenly the ground trembled.

"_What the…earthquake? Surely not here." _thought Alex. A pause. Then the ground started cracking. Windows shattered, boats rocked and people screamed as the supposed earthquake made Alex lose his footing. Unfortunately he had been standing next to the water's edge. His head hit the paved walkway before he went under the guard rail heading straight for the murky water below. Before he blacked out he caught a glimpse of the surface. It was looking greener than usual. And were those bolts of static energy coming from the center of the now-forming whirlpool? Knocked out, Alex's limp form plunged into the unknown…

**Earth's orbit, 15 April 2012…**

The energy readings were off the chart. As the space bridge powered down, an electromagnetic disturbance with the same energy readings was detected on Earth. Megatron chuckled. Had he succeeded? It would certainly be a proud moment for cybertronian science. He turned to his first lieutenant. "Dreadwing," he commanded. "Assume command in my absence. If something from another reality has come through the vortex and is alive, I would very much like to meet it in person."

"As you wish, Lord Megatron." Replied Dreadwing.

Megatron headed for the docking bay. A quick glance at Soundwave's work station revealed to him that a GPS signal was emanating from where the space bridge had opened up, making the job of finding the specimen a little bit easier. Transforming and heading towards Earth, Megatron positively thought to himself:

"_Our guarantee of winning the war has arrived!"_

**Nevada Desert, 14 April 2012…**

Alex opened his eyes. He was definitely not in Cape Town anymore. He was lying next to a road in the middle of what he assumed was a desert. Two massive rock formations on either side of him with the road placed in-between them. Checking himself over, he stood up, dusted himself off (he didn't want to get his formal jacket dirty) and walked into the middle of the road. Completely alone and unsure of what to do, he pulled out his cellphone which, amazingly was not wet. The phone had locked on to a Vodafone network and was changing its time, date and GPS location to match the area. While the date was completely wrong the time was exactly what it had been at the waterfront. The GPS map told him that he was on a main road 2km away from the city of Las Vegas. Looking in one direction, Alex could definitely see there was a town, but it was definitely not Vegas. It didn't look…extravagant enough. Not sure of what else to do, he headed in the direction of the town. After half a kilometer he saw something that made his eyes go wide. A signpost stating: "WELCOME TO JASPER, NEVADA."

"_This cannot be…_" he thought.

He was in the world of _Transformers Prime,_

And someone had bridged him here, intentionally.

**To be continued…**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**Earth's upper atmosphere, 15 April 2012**

The silver aircraft moved at high speed towards the Nevada Desert. Megatron was wasting no time in locating the specimen, as it was imperative that they did not lose track of it. A quick update from Soundwave told him that the GPS signal was still transmitting and that it had moved into a human populated area. Megatron grimaced. He was hoping not to cause any disturbance that would attract the Autobots attention, but if needs be…

**Jasper, Nevada, 15 April 2012…**

Sitting on a bench opposite the local school, the school which he knew jack, Miko and Raf attended, Alex took a few minutes to analyze the situation, twirling his phone in his hand (it was the only the thing he had on him now, so he would be looking after it from now on).

He was in the world of _Transformers Prime_. Either that or he was dreaming (surely no dream could look and feel this real). The date told him that it was the day after season 2's "_Grill," _which meant that Agent Fowler had just delivered his report concerning the recent battle with MECH to General Bryce at the nearby military base. However this was only an assumption, since Alex could not be sure of episode times. School had ended two hours ago so the kids would probably be at the base, along with Arcee, Bulkhead and Bumblebee. Ratchet was probably at work with his tools as usual, and Optimus? Well, Alex didn't think that anybody knew what the leader of the Autobots did in his spare time. But then there was the question of the bridge vortex that had dumped him here. Whose was it? It couldn't have been a natural phenomenon, so it was either of autobot or decepticon origin. Alex was about to think on that but was then startled at the sound of a sonic boom. Looking up at the sky he could just make out an approaching aircraft coming at high speed, hence the sonic boom. His blood going cold when he could make out the blue cannon perched on top of it.

Megatron.

But before Alex could react he heard the sound of a motorbike engine. Looking towards the sound he saw Arcee and Jack pull up outside the local music store across the street.

Alex didn't have much time to think. He understood immediately that Megatron was probably looking for him and that the cons were responsible for him being here. But how had they managed to track him?

His phone. The built-in GPS.

Quickly turning the GPS off, Alex freaked over what to do. The most obvious action to take was to make contact with Jack and Arcee, but that would prove dangerous as he could disrupt storylines. But he couldn't just run and hide, as Megatron would no doubt find him. The leader of the decepticons would not hesitate to level the small town. Alex had to somehow lead him away from Jasper.

Even if it did mean sacrificing himself to preserve this world's future.

Quickly making his mind up, he turned the phone's GPS back on, zipped it up in his jacket, and started to run towards where Arcee was parked. Jack had proceeded to enter the store while Arcee watched some nearby pigeons. Reaching her and facing her headlights, Alex spoke in a clear voice that resonated with evident fear. "If you want to protect Jack, Miko, Raf and the rest of Jasper from Megatron, You need to tell Orion Pax to head to the canal system right now." Alex stood up. He wasn't sure if Arcee would respond in order to protect her cover, so in a desperate and cruel move, he added "I am sorry about Tailgate and Cliffjumper." And with that, Alex ran off in the direction of the nearest canal. Luckily he did not have to go far as there was one located just behind the school and surrounding houses. Climbing down into the canal Alex made a break for the other side.

He was halfway across when he heard an energon cannon being fired. The force of the shot hitting the ground next to him sent him flying 5 or 6 meters and threw him onto the ground like a rag doll, breaking one of his legs. As Alex's head began to clear from the aftershock, the dizziness was replaced with pain from his limb. With tears stinging his eyes He cried out in agony as Megatron transformed mid-air and walked over to where Alex was laying.

"Well, well," he said. "A human child. This may be easier than I anticipated."

"Please," Alex whispered. "Let him be here…"

"I would introduce myself," Megatron continued. "But I suspect you already know who I am." He reached out to grab Alex.

He was then propelled back by a fist.

Megatron had failed to see Optimus Prime emerge from a groundbridge portal. The force of the punch knocking him to the other side of the canal. Optimus decided not to waste time confronting Megatron, as he would put the human at risk. Lifting Alex gently into his servo's, he ran back through the glowing portal. Before it closed completely, Optimus heard Megatron shouting.

"PRIME! THAT BOY BELONGS TO ME!"

Entering into the Autobot base, Optimus looked down and met Alex's gaze.

"Thanks, Optimus…" Alex managed to say before slipping into unconsciousness.

Optimus continued to gaze upon Alex for a few minutes until Ratchet broke the silence.

"Who is that human?"

Optimus laid Alex on the human medical berth on the upper level and turned to face Ratchet.

"I do not know Ratchet. But whoever he is, we are going to protect him, as it seems that Megatron has great interest in him and that he knows things that put him in grave danger."

"How do you realize that?"

Optimus gazed at the medic.

"Ask yourself. How is it that a human unbeknownst to us is able to call me by my former name?"

**To be continued…**

**Author's note: This my first TFP fanfic so please bear with me. The next chapter may take a while to write as Alex has to now explain himself (this is difficult to write properly). All reviews are welcome as I would like to hear the feedback. Suggestions are also very welcome as input would be appreciated. Thanks!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**The Nemesis, Earth's orbit…**

Megatron was fuming, pacing the corridors to clear his mind. How had the Prime known of the human's arrival? The apparent reason being that the Autobots scanners had also picked up the bridge's energy signature when the human was pulled through the dimensions. Megatron was going to have to act fast if he wanted to maintain control over the situation. His idea of reaching through the void and grabbing another human was dashed when Soundwave had reported that they did not have enough energon onboard to attempt it. No, he was going to have to retrieve the specimen, but in his own time. No logic in dispatching the entire decepticon armada to locate one piffling human, when there was other important work to be done. Even now, the _Nemesis _was en route to a decepticon mine to collect new supplies…

**Autobot base…**

It had been six hours since Optimus had brought the human into the base. During this time, June Darby had been called in to attend to his leg while Agent Fowler tried to identify who he was, with little results.

"Our facial recognition software hasn't been able to identify him. We tried tracking his cellphone so we could get a name but even that doesn't seem to exist." Stated the former army ranger. "But what I want I want to know is how he knows your former name, Prime. That piece of information wasn't exactly passed on to the rest of the world."

"I'm afraid I do not know Agent Fowler," said Optimus. "However it is imperative that we find out from our young friend how he came about it."

"I say we wake him up right now and ask him." Spat Arcee. She had been on edge ever since she had contacted Optimus after her confrontation with the boy.

"You can ask your questions when he wakes up accordingly." Interjected Nurse Darby. "He will be in some pain when he does so go easy on him. I have to get back to the hospital, my shift is about to start."

"Thank you for your help, Nurse Darby." Said Optimus. Agent Fowler offered to give June a lift.

As they left, Optimus's attention turned to Ratchet, who was stationed in front of the computers.

"Optimus, not word yet from Bulkhead, but I am detecting some rather curious sub-terranean frequencies." Said Ratchet.

"Of earthly origin?"

"I do not yet know what they are, but I do know where."

A map appeared on the central monitor.

"The coordinates at which we last encountered Megatron." Said Optimus.

"And Arachnid." Added Arcee.

"And Arachnid's insecticon." Added Ratchet.

…

After the three Autobots had bridged to the location, Ratchet turned his attention to the human still lying on the medical berth, his left leg bandaged. Wondering why he was so formally dressed, Ratchet took the liberty of scanning the human himself. He received quite the shock when the results told him that the boy's physical form was soaked with background radiation, particles which were beyond rare in the known universe, as they did not originate IN the known universe.

"Who are you?" thought Ratchet as he watched Alex breathe deeply.

…..

Unbeknown to Ratchet, Alex was in fact wide awake and was listening to conversations gone by. He just wasn't ready to face the Autobots and their questions just yet (especially Arcee), as he wasn't sure he would be able to explain himself. At least he now knew where in the continuance he was. Between episodes 'Armada' and 'Flying mind,' meaning that Optimus and the others would return with Arachnid in tow. As it was early evening, the next episode would take place tomorrow somewhere around lunchtime. He was going to have to explain himself tonight. But to whom exactly? Alex thought about this for a moment, and realized that there was only one person on Team Prime who would believe his story and be able to understand.

Optimus Prime

**To be continued…**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

**Autobot Base….**

"Stasis," said Ratchet, looking at Arachnid through the glass. "She deserves worse."

"I intended worse," replied Arcee. "More times than you know."

"You are stronger for the choice you made." Stated Optimus walking up behind her.

A sudden honking drew their attention as Bulkhead sped through the entrance into the main hangar, transforming and waving his arms in excitement.

"Guys, you are not gonna believe the day I had…" he began.

He paused when he spotted Arachnid's frozen expression through the pod glass and turned to look at Ratchet and Arcee, receiving blank looks from them.

"You too, ha?" he remarked.

"Bulkhead, please keep your voice down. We do not wish to wake our guest." Said Optimus.

"Who? Arachnid?" asked Bulkhead, who obviously seemed confused.

"It's okay, I'm awake." Said a voice behind them.

Turning to the raised level behind them, they saw the human was leaning on the safety rail, using it to support himself. How he had got from the bed to the side without making a sound was a mystery. Looking at the pained expression on his face, it was evident that his leg was still hurting.

"I assume I have Jack's mother to thank for the bandages?" He enquired, carefully choosing his words as he would have to from now on.

"Who's that?" asked Bulkhead.

That set the rest of questions off.

"Good, you're awake." Said Arcee, eager to get answers. "Who are you and how do know about us?"

Ratchet was just as eager. "Where did you hear the name Orion Pax?"

"Okay, maybe you will believe the day I had." Commented Bulkhead, who just stood there wondering why the kid was dressed in black. Was he going to a funeral or something?

Alex remained calm during this barrage of questions. When the Autobots were finally silent, he looked at Optimus and stated, "Optimus is there somewhere we can talk in private?"

The Prime looked at Alex for a few seconds before walking up to the rail and extending his servo for the human to climb up on. When he saw that the boy was having trouble standing up on his own he offered his other servo to help him up. Alex thankfully accepted the help and proceeded to stand awkwardly in the giant's hand, clinging onto a digit to balance himself. Optimus then headed to the elevator that would take them to the top of the base. Once there he set the human on top of the huge rocks that allowed him to be at waist height with Optimus.

"We shall not be disturbed up here." Assured Optimus.

Alex looked at the view around him. The view from up here was spectacular. He could even make out the two rock formations in-between which he had materialized.

"_Be calm." _He thought. "_He won't hurt me, I hope."_

"Optimus Prime," he began. He had had a few hours to think about he was going to do this, and hopefully he would be clear enough.

"You need to understand that what I am about to tell you is completely true. It is the situation as I see and understand it. I do not have physical evidence to support it, but I ask to please believe me when I explain.

The Autobot nodded.

Alex took a deep breath. "The last time I checked, you were a story. The story of Transformers Prime. A show chronicling the adventures of the Autobots led by their leader Optimus Prime in their battle to protect planet Earth from the Decepticons led by Megatron. An animated TV series created by Hasbro, the owners of the _Transformers _franchise, a toy line created in Japan more than 20 years ago. The franchise growing from toys to kids cartoons to even 3 full length films, with a fourth being produced right now. Do you still follow?"

A calculated frown had appeared on Optimus's brow.

"Continue." He said simply.

Alex continued. "While the show was intended for kids, I must admit I was a fan. I watched every episode when they came out. The last episode I watched was the 7th episode of season 3. The conversation you just had with the other Autobots tells me that we are between episodes in the middle of season 2, which means if this world is mirroring the events in the show or vice versa, I have detailed knowledge of events to come." Alex took another deep breath. "And I think that's why Megatron wants me."

Alex looked to the ground, unsure of the next part.

"One moment I am walking along the waterfront, the next I am falling through what I can make out as a groundbridge portal. When I woke up, I was lying next to that road." Alex pointed in the direction. "I walked to Jasper where I managed to work out where I was. That's when I saw Megatron's approach and had to attract Arcee's attention. I hoped my message would get through to you. I apologize if I upset Arcee with my remark. I needed her to believe me."

His story finished, Alex waited for a response. Optimus remained silent for a few moments.

"What is your name?"

"Alex. Alex Matthews."

The prime looked at him. "It would stand to reason that Megatron was somehow responsible for your arrival here, Alex. It is imperative that we find out how, as to attempt to send you back home. I will not deny that if in Megatron's control, you are a dangerous weapon. I also see that you were wise to inform only me of this, as it would cause issues to arise with the others. I will keep your secret, if you promise to keep it alike. As I understand it, your existence was never noted in this 'TV show?'"

"No." confirmed Alex. "Therefore I ask you go about your business without getting me involved. For instance, you will soon launch an attack on the decepticon warship, due to what Bulkhead will tell you shortly. I cannot interfere with that in any way. I cannot provide details either. I hope you understand my reasoning."

"Somewhat." Replied Optimus. "I will come up with a lie about who you are to tell the others, as well as ask Agent Fowler to assist me in the cover story."

"Thank you." Said Alex, glad that that had gone well. "Oh, and Optimus?"

"Yes?"

"You forgot to give Raf that snowball you promised him."

**To be continued….**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

**Autobot Base…**

"Slowly please, Arcee." Bulkhead asked attentively. "What exactly happened?"

"I was taking Jack to the music store and while waiting outside, this kid rushes up to me, tells me that if I want to protect Jasper from Megatron, I have to tell 'Orion Pax' to go to the canal right away. Even though I was surprised, I kept quiet, but then he said…" Arcee paused and closed her eyes. "He said that he was sorry about Tailgate and Cliffjumper."

Immediately Bulkhead understood. The topic of Arcee's former partners was known to not be spoken about in the base. He could understand how Arcee felt towards the kid at the moment.

"But you still called Optimus?" he asked.

"Yeah, and just in time. Megatron had showed and was about blow a hole in him."

"Maybe he's just a student from the kid's school who happened to overhear one of their conversations." Suggested Bulkhead.

"No, he is too well informed. That, and the fact that he is not a student at the school." Said Ratchet.

"How do you know that?" enquired Arcee.

Ratchet awkwardly turned to check his readings. "Uhh…I…may have made a list of all the students there. Just to be sure that there were no security issues with the children's safety."

Arcee and Bulkhead had to grin at this. Another example of how Ratchet DID NOT much care for the kids.

"But the question of where this human came from remains unanswered." Continued Ratchet.

"I'm afraid you will have to wonder a little bit longer, old friend." Optimus had returned to the main hangar. "Alex will be staying with us for a while. I have allocated some space for him to reside in and Agent Fowler has been contacted to arrange for him to attend school with the children. I ask that you respect his personal space and refrain from asking any ques-"

"Whoa, whoa." Interrupted Arcee. "You spoke with him for like 10 minutes and now you're giving him an all-access pass? Optimus with all due respect, who is he?"

"His name is Alex Matthews." Optimus explained. "He is fully aware of our existence on this planet and harbors information which could prove valuable to Megatron and dangerous to us. This is all you need to know for the time being."

Ratchet did not like this one bit. It was not like Optimus to hide something from them, especially when it was staring at them in the face.

"So what, we just treat him like one of the kids." Said Bulkhead.

"If possible, yes." Said Optimus. "Also, I think it best that we do not inform the children of how Alex came to be with us, as to not frighten them. We shall explain that he is working along with Agent Fowler to ensure that our cover remains intact."

The sound of a powerful engine turned their attention to the entrance just as Bumblebee sped into the base, screeching to a stop a few feet away from the Autobots feet.

His passenger door opened and out stepped Raf with his usual backpack and a sleeping bag tucked under arm.

"Hey guys." He greeted.

"Rafael, what are doing here?" enquired Ratchet.

A frown appeared on the adolescent's brow as he turned towards his guardian as he transformed. "I thought you said you had cleared it with the others." He said.

Beeps and whirs could be heard from the young autobot as he made a shrugging gesture.

"Bee had the idea of me sleeping over tonight so we could watch movies together. That's if it's okay with the rest of you guys?" asked Raf.

"I don't think…"began Ratchet.

"I do not see any problem with Rafael spending the night here." Interjected Optimus. "It is a Friday night, which means he does not have school tomorrow."

"Awesome." Replied Raf excitedly, as he and Bumblebee headed for the TV area on the upper level.

"Optimus, don't you think…" Ratchet began.

"Rafael would have to eventually meet him, I see harm in it being tonight." Optimus assured the medic.

"Meet who? Another Autobot?" asked Raf, obviously confused.

As if speaking of Unicron himself, Alex (using a metal bar he had found to use as a walking stick) limped into the main hangar.

"Optimus, I forgot to ask Agent Fowler to bring a change of clothes tomorrow. While I wish to keep the ones I have on, they are not exactly prac-"

He stopped when he noticed Raf and Bumblebee were present.

"Oh, Hi." He said as he smiled awkwardly.

Bumblebee beeped something, as if asking a question.

"Rafael, Bumblebee, this is Alex. He's going to be staying here with us for a while." Optimus introduced.

"I'm sort of assisting Agent Fowler on making sure the autobots stay undercover." Alex said as he walked over to Raf. "I'm very pleased to meet you, Raf. You too, Bumblebee." Raf said nothing, only taking a small step backwards.

Ratchet was impressed at how fluently the human could lie, adding even more mystery to his existence.

"Raphael, Alex will be joining you, Miko and Jack at school next week. He might need your help adjusting to his new environment." Optimus stated.

"Yeah, sure." Said Raf shyly. "C'mon Bee, I need to find a place to put my stuff." And with that he headed up the stairs.

Bumblebee looked at Raf and then down at Alex before giving Optimus a confusing glance.

"I will explain later." Assured the Autobot leader. Bumblebee then moved off to where Raf was busy unrolling his sleeping bag.

Optimus turned to Alex. "In response to your concern Alex, I am sure Agent Fowler has taken your attire into consideration. Perhaps it would be best if you got some rest."

"On the contrary, I have never felt more awake. Might have something to do with being unconscious for eight hours." Alex began to climb the stairs to go join Raf in front of the TV.

With that, the Autobots dispersed. Optimus, Bulkhead and Arcee headed off to their quarters in search of a desperately-needed recharge (With Arcee looking frostily at Alex before moving), Ratchet opting to attend to his equipment and Bumblebee making himself comfortable in front of the small TV with Raf.

"Mind if I join you?" Alex asked Raf as he sat down in the only armchair.

"No." replied Raf nervously. He had switched on the TV to watch some adventure sci-fi film that Alex had not seen before.

After a few moments, he summed up the courage to ask Alex "What happened to your leg?"

Alex thought for a moment. "Stupid accident." He replied. "Fell into a canal."

Raf nodded and went back to watching to his movie with Bumblebee.

Alex took a deep breath. "_So far, so good." _He thought. He had made his position successfully clear to Optimus and was far away from Megatron's clutches, but tomorrow morning would see the start of a new episode, _'_Flying minds,' followed by four episodes that apparently took place all at the same time.

Alex sat upright. That was it. Now that was an idea. An idea that could erase any possibility of him interrupting the continuance but still allowed him to become fully integrated into the story (if it didn't kill him). The idea was highly dangerous (He was also going to need Raf's help if he was to succeed), as it involved convincing someone that either Alex's job of being a game changer was already completed, or that there was no possibility that he could be one in the first place.

The hard part of this plan was convincing this person of Alex's reasoning.

As well as the fact that the particular person he had to convince was the person who had pulled him into this world.

He was going to need an audience with Lord Megatron.

**To be continued…**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

**Autobot base…**

It was the early hours of the next morning. Alex had been up all night thinking about how this grand plan of his was going to work. And more importantly, how he would explain it to Raf. Raf meanwhile was still fast asleep on the couch, along with Bumblebee who had fallen into a deep recharge on the floor of the main hangar.

As Alex understood it, this morning would see the beginning of 'Flying mind.' An episode which would see the kids and Agent Fowler sneak onto the _Nemesis _in an attempt to download the Iacon database and deter the decepticon warship from reaching New York City. They would be successful, and return with four coordinates, each leading to an Iacon relic. Team Prime would then split up and search for these relics. Agent Fowler and Raf would remain behind and act as groundbridge control. And if Alex was right, this would all happen in a single day.

Alex checked his phone. Miraculously, it was still showing a full battery and signal strength ("_Naturally." _Thought Alex.). Alex had already turned off the GPS and had password-protected any pictures, fan novels or episodes of _Transformers Prime_, just in case one of the kids got hold of his phone. He was also going to have to keep it out of sight, as he had seen that this world was a little bit behind his in terms of technology (the kids used QWERTY flip-ups, and here he was sitting with an Android touchscreen). No need for them to see that he had a phone that would only become available in six months' time. He was surprised that Agent Fowler had not questioned it when he had tried to find its register number. Alex guessed that the man didn't stay updated in terms of the latest cellphones being offered.

Knowing he couldn't wait any longer, Alex moved to wake Rafael from his slumber.

"Raf," he nudged the child gently. "Raf, wake up."

Rafael rolled over in his sleeping bag to Alex's side, eyes still half-closed, a look of confusion on his face.

"…what is it?" the kid was obviously not a morning person. Alex handed him his glasses.

"I need your help with something today," Alex said. "But I need you to keep it a secret. Not even Optimus can know."

"What is it?" Raf asked again; now awake as to give the new arrival his full attention.

"What Optimus said about me; about who I was, it's not the truth." Alex explained, trying to keep it as simple as possible. "The truth is far more complicated. You see, I'm here because I was being chased by Megatron. I have information which is very important to him. But I cannot run from him. I have to face him. Which is why, later this afternoon, I need you to bridge me onto the _Nemesis_."

This final statement caught Raf off guard. This was evident by his eyes suddenly widening as he sat up in his sleeping bag.

"You want me to do what?!" He said out loud.

"Shh…," Alex moved to quiet down the boy. "You know how to operate the groundbridge, right?

Raf slowly nodded with a frown forming on his face.

"You see, later this afternoon, the bots will all go on a mission, while you and Agent Fowler stay here to help them with communications and groundbridge control. During that time you must help me to get onto the decepticon warship."

The frown was now clear on Raf's face. "Why should I help you, or even trust you?"

"Optimus trusts me. Isn't that enough?" Alex asked.

"Does Optimus know who you are?"

"Yes, he does. Though he probably wouldn't let me do this as he wouldn't like the idea of me talking to Megatron."

Raf wasn't convinced. "Why should I help you? What if the others found out-"

"I will take responsibility if they do. I give you my word." Cut in Alex.

Raf was unsure of what to do. He looked down at the floor.

Alex then said gently and with evident kindness in his voice: "Raf, do you think, just for today, you can trust me the same way you trusted Bumblebee the day you got inside him for the first time?"

Raf looked up at Alex. He was smiling gently.

Rafael thought about this for a few moments. He did not like the idea of lying to everybody, especially to 'Bee. However something was telling him that Alex was being honest. He remembered the day he first climbed into Bumblebee, the day he met the Autobots. How had Alex known about that? Not only that but he was claiming to know the future too. Such a thing was not possible. Maybe this was why Megatron was chasing him. Either way, Raf felt he had to help Alex with his plan.

"Okay." He finally said.

Alex grinned. "Here's the plan. You bridge me to the _Nemesis _when all the Autobots are out. You will then wait for let's say, 30 minutes. After that, you must open the bridge again at exactly the same coordinates. However, if I do not come through immediately, you close the groundbridge and wait another 10 minutes, before opening it again. If I do not make it through then, you must close it and not open it again. My absence will indicate something has gone wrong. If that happens, you must then tell Optimus about what I did and he will decide on the course of action."

"But we don't even know the location of the _Nemesis_. How can I bridge you onto it when we don't even know where it is?" asked Raf.

"Oh, don't worry." Assured Alex. "I'm sure we will find out soon enough…."

…..

The sound of Bulkhead's horn signaled his and Arcee's return after picking up Jack and Miko from their homes. Alex was hoping that the kid's guardians will have explained his presence at the base, as he was getting tired of lying consistently. Mercifully Agent Fowler had already arrived with a fake I.D. and driver's license for Alex (Just in case he ran into trouble with the humans) as well as a change of clothes. Having stored his black suit somewhere safe, Alex was now dressed in brown leather boots, black jeans, red T-shirt and a thin black denim jacket. Fowler had also brought along a proper walking stick for Alex, but while he was indeed making good use of it currently, Alex had managed to spy upon an old leg brace in the silo's dust-covered storeroom. Extremely painful to wear perhaps, but it did allow for more mobility and freedom of leg movement. Something that Alex was going to need.

He leaned on the rails next to the computer banks watching as Jack and Miko disembarked and Arcee and Bulkhead transformed. As Jack and Miko looked up and saw him, he gave a small wave and greeted, "Hey, guys."

"So, you're the new kid, huh?" said Miko excitedly, diving straight into the questions. "Are you coming to school with us? What do you help Agent Fowler with? Are you like Ratchet's new human?"

Jack hadn't said anything during this but was also interested in learning about who this new kid. He looked a bit older than Jack and had the same build, but there was something about him that made Jack suspicious. When Arcee had explained the reason for him being here she had seemed hesitant and weary of his presence with the Autobots. His partner's feelings were enough to convince Jack that there was more to this new arrival than a simple intern working under Agent Fowler.

Alex maintained his cover well. "I'm just here to make sure you kids don't attract too much attention, from decepticons and other humans alike."

Miko interpreted this the wrong way. Slumping her shoulders she crudely asked "So, you're basically a babysitter?"

"Oh no, please don't see me in that sense. I'm just here to help out. On Agent Fowler's orders. You must act as if I don't exist, like a shadow." Alex answered quickly.

"Sounds like you're not here by choice." Jack interjected.

Alex glanced at Jack. Before he could speak Bulkhead interrupted, obviously excited. "Guys, you need to hear about what happened to me yesterday."

"What is it, Bulk?" Miko turned to her guardian. While this was happening the other Autobots and humans had assembled in the main hangar.

As it was showtime, Alex needed to now get out of the way for a bit. "You guys go ahead and talk, there's some things I need to do. Alex started to limp towards the stairs.

"You not interested in Bulkhead's story?" Miko asked.

It's not necessary. Like I said, act like I don't exist. Better pay attention though Miko. I'm sure it's important." Alex smiled and headed towards the main corridor.

Jack's eyes followed Alex's descent and disappearance. He wasn't convinced. What was he up to? Nevertheless he turned to listen to the wrecker.

Bulkhead began "I was on patrol duty when I detected an energon signal….

…..

The storeroom hadn't been touched in years. At one time it had been an armory, another time a medical bay. Now though it served to house anything that was not needed by the silo's current tenants. Thankfully among this junk was old medical apparatus, among which lay an old leg brace for wounded soldiers.

Alex carefully slid the device onto his left leg, careful not to touch the bandages. With it in position he then proceeded to tighten the bolts. The first and second yielded no problems, however the rest brought about a fresh sting of pain to Alex's limb. Tightening the bolts became agony as the bones were shifted back into place. The tablets which Jack's mom had left to ease the pain were not helping, even though Alex was taking one every hour. With the brace in place he tried to stand up, trying to apply as little pressure as possible to his leg. He began walking, slowly picking up speed until he was running full pelt around the room. It was like a fire that could not be extinguished was in his leg. Alex slowed to a stop, panting and sweating uncontrollably. He felt his blood pressure rise as adrenalin flooded his system. He laid his hand on the wall to lean against.

He checked his watch. 30 minutes since he had left the company of the Autobots, hopefully during which time they would have left with the spark extractor and Fowler in tow.

This was about to be found out when a voice sounded behind him. "Why wear that if it hurts you so much?"

Alex turned, still with his hand on the wall, to see Jack leaning on the wall next to the storeroom's entrance. A frown on his face.

Alex panted. "A walking stick is okay but I would prefer to walk properly. I can deal with the pain."

Jack took a step forward, folding his arms. "I don't think you're telling the truth."

"About the brace?"

"About yourself."

Alex gazed at Jack. "Why do think that?"

"You seem pretty calm for a guy who found out about the existence of aliens on Earth.

For Alex, there was no need to lie at that point.

"Oh, I've known about the Autobots for a while. Agent Fowler made it clear that I mustn't tell anybody."

"I see." Said Jack. "So, how much 'do' you know about us?"

Now the frown started to appear on Alex's face. "Only what I've seen." He failed to notice that his hands were becoming quite warm.

Jack said nothing.

Alex silently cursed Arcee. It was obvious that she had told Jack about how he knew of her former partners. While this did not have an immediate consequence, it did instill suspicion in the sixteen-year-old about Alex. Alex knew he would have to sometime explain himself to Arcee about that confrontation. that is if he survived his plan.

Desperate to change the subject, Alex asked "So, are the Autobots still in the main hangar?"

"No," replied Jack icily. "They left with the spark extractor and Fowler to attack the decepticon warship."

"Wow." Said Alex, acting astounded. "Cool." He paused. "Do you think that they will end the war today?"

"I hope so." Now it was Jack's turn to pause. "What do you think?"

Before Alex could answer, the lights in the storeroom and the corridor outside suddenly dimmed. A power drain that indicated the activation of the groundbridge.

"Back already?" asked Alex. "Let's go and see."

"Yeah." Said Jack slowly. He made his way down the corridor briskly, with Alex successfully keeping up despite the torture coming from his leg.

He failed to notice the black, charred and slightly smoking imprint of his hand that he had left on the wall.

**To be continued….**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

**Autobot base…**

The kids looked worryingly at the frozen Autobots. They had responded quickly after Fowler had sent the distress call to pick them up. It had been a real pain getting them back into the base, and to be fair the newbie hadn't been much help in helping them. Alex was still in wonderment as to how the medic had managed to carry all of his fellow cybertronians through the portal in such little time. One of those questions that had gone unanswered in the show.

"They're alive," Ratchet stated as he stood by his computer terminal. "But I have never encountered this form of stasis lock."

"The 'cons are crossing the Atlantic," said Agent Fowler. "Making a beeline for North America."

"Wait, we can track them?" asked Jack on the ground floor.

"Why aren't they cloaked like usual?" added Raf alongside him.

"None of this makes a lick of sense. They had us in their crosshairs but the 'cons just took off." Fowler elaborated.

"They even bailed on that…spark extractor thingy." Added Miko.

"But if the ship isn't cloaked, maybe the communications relay's open, and-" began Jack.

"Yeap, yeap," interrupted Ratchet. "Are you suggesting that we just…call Megatron and ask him what's happening up there?!"

The kids shrugged up at him.

Wide eyed, Ratchet turned to Fowler on the upper level, who also shrugged.

He then turned to Alex, who was watching them from his seat on the nearby steps.

He also shrugged. "Why not?"

Ratchet frowned. "You're quite calm considering our current situation."

"I believe the correct saying is 'keep calm and carry on.'" Replied Alex.

Ratchet turned back to the monitors. Reluctantly he began to type in commands.

Alex was in actual fact not paying much attention to the problem at hand. This was good as it prevented him from partaking in the conversation. "_Just keep your mouth shut and everything will play out as it should."_ He thought. He was still trying to work out how he was going to phrase his reasoning to Megatron. As he would be unarmed against the tyrant, his only weapons would be words, "_And don't be a sniveling wretch, _he added. "_Megatron is not going to take you seriously if you can't speak with confidence." _Alex was also wondering what his exit strategy was. "_Distract him?" _he suggested to himself.

Annoyingly, that was the best idea he could presently come up with.

But what if this grand plan of his could have a better outcome….?

…

"Autobot Outpost Omega One, to Decepticon warship. Megatron, please respond." Stated Ratchet.

"Megatron." He repeated. The humans were standing together, waiting for a response.

A sudden beeping indicated the connection. There was a pause.

Then a sinister voice said, "Megatron has been relieved of his command."

"Who is this?" Ratchet enquired.

"Who is this?" the voice replied.

"Have you taken control of the decepticon vessel?" Ratchet continued.

"I AM the vessel." Stated the voice with an evident sneer. "Any cybertronian who interferes with my mission will be neutralized."

Images of frozen 'con soldiers and insecticons appeared on the monitors. Ratchet pressed on. "What mission?"

"Priority one." The voice said. "Decrypt Iacon database and recover decepticon technology."

"For what purpose?"

No response. Another beeping noise and the screen going blank indicated the ship severing the connection.

Miko place her arms on the guardrail before folding them. "It hung up?! Rude!"

"Rude?!" exclaimed Agent Fowler. "There's a giant spaceship, flying around, collecting decepticon weapons of mass destruction!"

"Ah, but a giant spaceship filled with neutralized decepticons." Interjected Jack.

"Point?" snapped Fowler.

"This could be our only chance to slip aboard and download the Iacon database." Explained Jack.

"So Optimus can decode it." Added Raf, smiling.

Ratchet turned to the humans. "Ingenious. I will infiltrate the decepticon warship."

But Jack disagreed. "Not ingenious. You saw what it did to the decepticons."

"And probably Megatron too." Said Raf.

"And team Prime?!" added Miko.

"But, it had me dead in its sights, and I'm still breathing." Said Fowler.

"The ship may be blind to humans." Stated Jack.

Ratchet turned to look at Fowler. "Very well, Agent Fowler. But at the first sign of trouble, I am bridging you right back here." He then turned to his workstation. "Now, in order to download the database, you will need a compatible transfer drive. He said as he handed the agent a very large flash drive.

"A what…?" said an obviously confused Fowler.

"He'll also need tech support. Said Raf. "And backup." Added Miko.

Jack turned to Alex who was sitting in one of the desk chairs. He seemed to be keeping up with them but had his own thoughts going on.

"You gonna come with us?" He asked.

Alex made a pained expression. "My leg's still acting up. I would only slow you down."

Miko waved him off. "Ugh, wimp."

Looking confused Raf asked, "So, you're not coming with us onto the ship?"

Alex immediately understood the confusion. Smiling, he said "Maybe later or some other time."

Raf nodded.

"I doubt you'll get another chance." Said Jack smugly.

Ratchet looked at Alex. Something was definitely afoot here…

…..

"Fowler to base, we're in." came the man's voice through the com link a few moments after he and the kids had walked through the swirling vortex.

"Good." Replied Ratchet. "Their data core should be accessible from any console."

Still in his chair, Alex said "So, this is what you guys do every day, huh?"

Ratchet turned to look at Alex, frowning. "We have our quiet moments."

Alex nodded and returned looking at the main monitor.

Ratchet continued to look at Alex for a few moments. After checking that his voice could not be picked up by the com link, he turned back to Alex and slowly asked him "Who are you?"

Alex looked up at the medic. He said absolutely nothing.

Still frowning, Ratchet said "You know of our existence, you know the names Orion Pax, Cliffjumper and Tailgate, and you were attacked by Megatron himself. You refuse to tell us who you are or how-"

"I told Optimus Prime." Interrupted Alex.

Ratchet went silent but then said "and you think that is enough? Because you told Optimus the truth?"

"Because he is the only one capable of understanding it."

"Hmph, and what is that supposed to mean?'

Alex said nothing.

Before Ratchet could continue, Fowlers voice came through on the computer. "What would a relic from Cybertron be doing in the Big Apple?"

Ratchet replied "The Iacon relics landed on Earth eons ago, Agent Fowler. Long before the city was built atop it."

"Which means if the ship wants this one, it may have to move some buildings out of the way." sounded Jack's voice.

A shocked silence followed this realization. "_Commercial break." _Thought Alex absent-mindedly.

"Our mission just got complicated." Said Fowler finally. "How do we deter this ship?"

"I would advise disabling the navigation module." Ratchet suggested. Call up the main navigation menu."

Ratchet and Alex continued to listen.

Suddenly there was the sound of crackling energy. "Agent Fowler" shouted Jack.

Then the ships sinister voice could be heard. "System access detected. Interference will not be tolerated."

"There." Raf called out. He was referring to a camera which had appeared and was moving.

"Reveal yourself." Said the ship, which was having no luck in locating the intruders.

"It doesn't see us." Miko stated.

"Yet." Said Ratchet. "The ship must not be scanning for carbon-based life forms. But once it widens its search parameters…"

"We're toast." Completed Raf.

"I'm bridging you back." Ratchet stated.

"No." insisted Jack. "There are millions of lives at stake in New York, and we three are currently the only ones who can do anything about it."

"You're out of your element, Jack." Ratchet argued. "These readings, the ships rapid recovery, all point to the fact that Megatron employed dark energon to repair it."

"Hold on. If you're saying the ship is fueled by dark energon, we can dump it, right?" Jack suggested.

"Hmm," Ratchet considered the idea. "You'll need to reverse the warships energon infuser. Follow the main overhead conduits. They'll lead you to the power core."

Ratchet turned back to Alex. "How did Megatron know how to find you?"

"I would prefer not to tell you." Alex replied.

Ratchet was growing frustrated. Patience was one of his virtues but this was stretching it. He was going to ask the human how he could lie so fluently but his attention was then drawn back to the com link when he heard the kids gasp.

"Megatron had the same idea." Jack stated.

"Then we're on the right track." Raf confirmed.

"The energon injection valve can only be operated manually." Ratchet explained.

"Manually?!" the kids exclaimed.

As the com link went quiet, Ratchet turned back to Alex.

"Is there anything you will tell me?"

Alex thought for a moment. "I can tell you that you should have left the kids alone with their science projects."

Ratchet went wide eyed. After a moment, he dared to ask, "Anything else?"

"I think it's safe to say you learnt not to test synthetic energon on yourself again." Alex added.

Ratchet took a step back. This kid knew things Ratchet would have preferred to have remained unknown. He pressed on. "And?"

Alex sighed. Taking a deep breath he moved to silence Ratchet.

"Scraplets. Lots of scraplets."

That did the trick.

Ratchet continued to remain silent. Suddenly they heard noises coming from behind them. Turning towards the med bay they saw Optimus had moved from his stationary position and was clutching his head in mild pain. One by one the other Autobots broke free of the stasis lock.

"Thank goodness." Said Ratchet, breathing a sigh of relief. His relief was short lived when Jack's voice suddenly rang through the com link.

"Ratchet!" He shouted. "Fire up the groundbridge!"

Ratchet turned to his computer banks. He motioned to Alex "See if they're okay."

Alex nodded. Despite the constant pain coming from wearing the brace, he walked briskly over to the recovering Autobots.

"Is everyone okay?" he asked.

The leader of the Autobots turned to look at the human.

"We're fine, thank you Alex." Said Optimus. "How long have we been like this?"

"A while," replied Alex. "But I think we have the situation under control. Agent Fowler and the kids should be back any moment, hopefully with the Iacon database in tow."

Optimus eyes filled with concern upon hearing that the kids were out in the field. He quickly strode over to where Ratchet was standing by the console.

The groundbridge was fired into life. A moment later, Raf and Miko trundled in struggling to carry an unconscious Agent Fowler.

"Where's Jack?" Ratchet anxiously asked.

"He's still at the computer trying to get that flash drive." Miko replied. Upon hearing this, Ratchet responded quickly and ran through the swirling vortex.

Alex climbed down the stairs to help the two kids carry the agent. With some struggling, they managed to get him up the stairs and onto the medical berth in the corner. Alex was getting a pillow underneath his head when he heard Fowler mumble "No Grandma, I don't want a cookie…"

"_How did the writers come up with this guy's personality?"_ thought Alex.

Ratchet then returned through the bridge with Jack in one hand and the drive in the other. Placing Jack next to the other humans and powering down the groundbridge, he proceeded to slot the drive into a port. Immediately four sets of alien data appeared on the screen.

"The download of the Iacon database may have been incomplete, but we now possess four sets of coordinates decoded by the ship." He explained.

"Then we must act quickly," Optimus stated. "For Megatron possesses the same four sets. And he will not hesitate to obtain the potential doomsday devices, which lie at the sight of each."

Alex watched this unfold as he stood next to Fowler's side. With this final statement from Optimus, 'flying mind' had drawn to a close without any changes potentially caused by Alex. This was a good thing, as it would allow the next four episodes to proceed as planned. If according to plan, Megatron would remain on the '_nemesis' _and wait for his retrieval teams to return. The plan was about to commence. There was however one adjustment to it. His return through the groundbridge to the Autobot base was still the escape route, but it was now a contingency plan. That was if Megatron wasn't convinced enough to allow Alex to return home…

**To be continued…**

**Author's Note (PLEASE READ): I must apologize for this chapter as much of it is just dialogue from the episode, however it needed to be addressed if we are to continue with our story. There are now many factors to consider when thinking of my storyline, so it might be a while before the next chapter is published.**

**Also, some of you might notice that my OC is quite far-fetched in terms of understanding things, coming up with ideas and talking to beings much bigger than him while staring danger in the face. This is because I wanted him to be strong-willed, not some wimp who would just run and hide. And before you jump to assumptions, no. I do not plan on turning him into the next Prime. Do not fear though, I am intending to break him later on.**

**Thanks for reading, and reviews would be greatly appreciated, as they do help to spur me on.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

**Autobot base…**

"Be on your guard, Bulkhead." Optimus said as the wrecker raced through the groundbridge. He then turned to Raf who was sitting on the upper level. "Rafael, lock onto the remaining coordinates. I will embark for the Antarctic." Raf (who seemed a bit edgy all of a sudden) immediately spun round to the desk and began typing on the keyboard.

Optimus then turned to Ratchet. "As for you, old friend. I would prefer that you have company on your mission."

"No one is left to join me, Optimus." Said Ratchet, looking round. "Even if Agent Fowler were alert…"

They both turned to the agent who, despite the occasional babble, remained on the berth unconscious.

"He's human." Ratchet completed.

"I was considering the only remaining Autobot alternative on this planet." Optimus explained.

Ratchet looked dumbfounded. "Bu…ch…you…can't be serious." He exclaimed. "Wheeljack is insubordinate. A ruffian! Besides he's Bulkheads partner."

"Your expertise is scientific, but Wheeljack is a highly capable warrior. You would be wise to welcome the temporary alliance." Optimus looked down at Ratchet.

All Ratchet could do was sigh at the order he had just been given.

Alex had watched as the kids and their guardians left for their intended destinations. He had to admit he was somewhat jealous of them travelling to New York, but there was a much more pressing matter to deal with. He noticed that Raf had become more fidgety over the past few minutes. He was hoping that the boy could remain calm long enough to help him. Alex knew that when Agent Fowler regained consciousness and the autobots returned they would immediately question his absence, but Alex was confident that Raf would be resistant enough to re-open the groundbridge. Besides, even if Raf blabbed the whole story after Alex is bridged, Optimus would surely carry out the plan and open the bridge despite any objections the Autobots (especially Arcee) might bring up. There was the possibility that Optimus might try to come after him before the bridge back or if Alex did not make it through, but the leader of the Autobots would probably be too distracted by Bulkheads injury. After all, Optimus would only complicate things and the best possible outcome for Alex's plan involved him not ultimately returning to the base.

…..

"Good Luck, Ratchet." Alex called out as Ratchet walked towards the active groundbridge. The medic mumbled something and wasted no time in stepping through the glowing portal and vanishing.

Rafael, still sitting at the computer, turned to Alex. "Now?" he inquired.

Alex took a deep breath. The brace around his leg was secure, he had a (still) fully charged cellphone (even though the warship would block any signal whatsoever), and he had taken enough pain tablets to kill a small animal. It was now or never.

"Now." He said as he turned and stood next to Raf. "Can you bring up a schematic of the _Nemesis_?"

Amazingly, he was able to. "Show me the corridor running next to the main deck." Alex pressed.

A schematic of the floor plan and surrounding detail appeared on the monitor.

"There." Alex pointed to a side space running alongside the main walkway, just opposite from the main entrance to the main deck "Ventilation shaft. Should be big enough for me to walk through. That will be our bridge point." He turned to look at the boy. "Think you can be that precise with the coordinates?"

Raf nodded. "I don't see why not. It's quite close to where we bridged to this morning."

"Remember," Alex made clear. "Wait for 30 minutes then re-open it. If I don't come through straight away, close it and wait 10 minutes. After that, open it again and wait for 2 minutes. If I don't come through that time, close it and don't open it again. Then you tell Optimus."

Raf slowly nodded.

"Good." Alex stood up straight. "Let's do this."

….

**The **_**Nemesis…**_

Megatron had opted to wait on the deck alone in for his retrieval teams to return. He was confident that they would all be successful in locating the relics, as he knew it would be difficult for the autobots to disperse their resources over such a wide field. After discovering devices such as the spark extractor and the forge of Solus Prime, it would be interesting to see what the decoded coordinates yielded.

Due to happenings such as Starscreams and Arachnids failed assassination attempts, and the downing of his vessel, He had had not much time to think about the specimen. Soundwave had maintained vigilance in the hope of the GPS signal re-emerging somewhere on this rock, but it was to no avail. Megatron was almost certain that Optimus Prime would not let the human out of his sight, even if the boy had kept his mouth shut. With any luck, the human might have no knowledge of the cybertronians anyway, and with there being no way to locate him, Megatron was beginning to hope more and more for this to be true.

Still, he would eventually find him. The human would not be able to hide forever…

…

The ventilation shaft opposite the main door to the deck briefly glowed an emerald green, however it went unnoticed as all decepticons had been ordered to their posts and to remain there until further notice.

Alex waited until the groundbridge had closed behind before him before moving. Finding footholds on the shaft, he climbed onto the main walkway a few meters away from the door. He marveled at the sheer size of the place. "_It flies all over the world and nobody ever sees it?_" he thought for a second. Seeing the entrance just ahead of him, he cautiously made his way to the side of it, sticking to the walls and shadows in case any 'con's would walk by. Thankfully, none did, and he was able to peer round the door and look inside.

There, in all his glory, standing on the main flight deck, never looking away from the view and hands behind his back with it towards Alex, was Megatron. The leader of the decepticons.

…..

**Autobot base…**

Agent enjoyed his coffee very much. A simple everyday pleasure that enabled him to function properly among the alien robots. Today though he was in desperate need of it, considering he had had the shock of his life earlier today, literally. Looking around the base, he found it to be deserted, apart from young Raf sitting on the steps with his laptop. There nobody else here. Nobody.

Sensing something was off, he turned to Raf. "Rafael, where's Alex?"

Raf looked up from his laptop, "He's…uh...up on the roof. He said he wanted some fresh air." He stammered. He then immediately went back to his laptop.

Agent Fowler may have not have been a parent, but he was very good at telling when people were lying to him.

"Son," he said sternly. "What's going on?"

**The **_**Nemesis…**_

The giant was still unaware of Alex's presence. Making sure there were no other 'con's in the room, he slowly his made his way along the gantry towards him, making no sound whatsoever. When Alex was roughly 50 meters away, he stopped. Megatron remained how he was. Alex knew he didn't have time to wait for the tyrant to notice him. He would have to speak first.

And while Alex was used to performing for sizable crowds with his saxophone, it took every ounce of courage and confidence he had to say something.

"I believe you wanted something from me." He stated, loud enough so Megatron's ears would have no trouble hearing him.

Megatron was brought out of his thoughts when he heard someone speak behind him. Looking into the glass in front of him he was able to make out the reflection of the human standing behind him. While he was more than surprised, he remained calm, as he always did when confronted.

Megatron turned round and gazed down at the boy. Eyebrows raised and a grin starting to form, he said:

"Well, well, I did not expect this. You are either very brave or very foolish to have come here." He looked around the room. "No doubt you knew of my ship's location as the Autobot's pets were able to bridge onto it themselves earlier today. Very resourceful, for a human."

"I believe you wanted something from me," Alex repeated. "As you have something that I want."

"Oh, and what is that?" Megatron smirked. He was planning to have some fun with this human before he grabbed him.

"My ticket home." Alex replied. "I propose an exchange. One piece of information for safe passage back to my world."

Megatron simply laughed. "Really! And you think you are in the position to demand that?!" He returned to his sinister stare. "And what exact piece of information would you part with if I agreed to this exchange?"

"You will find out when I am standing next to the active bridge ready to take me home." Alex replied.

There was a pause as Megatron studied the human. While he was impressed of the human's ability to talk to him, the twitching optics and the slight shiver the human had was enough to tell him that the boy was scared.

"What makes you think I would agree to this," he said finally and with menace. "When you are aboard my ship, do not have apparent back-up, and are defenseless against me?"

Alex understood the meaning of this statement. "Don't think I don't have contingencies in place." He said. "If the Autobots don't hear from me in 40 minutes, they open a computer file I left for them. The file contains everything, and we both know you wouldn't want that knowledge to be at the fingertips of Optimus Prime." This was a bluff on Alex's part, but the idea of him doing that was so simple and logical that Megatron would have no trouble believing it. Which he did.

Megatron reveled. This human was smart. But he still held all the cards.

"It appears we have a stalemate then." Megatron said. "But considering that you will no doubt tell the Autobots of what you know anyway, why I shouldn't just kill you now." Megatron took a step towards Alex, who in turn took a few steps back.

"I won't; because of what you did, there is no need to tell them information which has become useless." Alex replied.

Megatron stopped. A calculated frown appearing on his face. "What do you mean useless?"

Alex took a deep breath. "The information I have of your war mentions nothing whatsoever of me." He stated.

Megatron failed to understand the meaning of this. "So?" he smirked.

Alex continued. "If I am now part of this conflict between you and the Autobots, that means that there would be some mentioning of me at some stage. I know up to the point when you finally discover the location of the Autobot base. And while I may not be all-knowing in this subject, there was never a word spoken about my existence. My presence now will affect the outcomes of future events. The future has been altered."

Even though the human had just revealed something of importance, Megatron didn't have time to think about it. If what the boy was saying was true, then he had wasted a huge amount of time and energon. The boy would be useless to him. He was starting to get angry.

"Prove it." He snarled." Prove that the future has been changed."

Alex had been ready for this question.

"Yesterday, you had an autobot intruder on your ship. My knowledge of that event includes you confronting him here on this deck. Yet when Bulkhead recalled the situation, he stated that that never took place." Alex cocked his head. "The confrontation was to take place before you received word that Starscream was on the ship too. What were you doing at that time?" with any luck, that last statement would convince Megatron of Alex's word.

It did.

Megatron was angry. The human was correct. Not only that but he had verbally beaten him, and nobody had done that and survived to tell the tale.

"It appears that your argument is logical, specimen." Megatron stated as he tensed up. "However, I must inform you that I have no intention of transporting you back to your world as it is impossible to do so. But that is of no consequence since you won't be leaving this ship alive!"

With that and in a single swift movement, Megatron raised his cannon and fired at the spot where Alex was standing.

But Alex had been ready for it. He had notice the giant tense up and had been waiting for him to react. He leapt to one side as the shot hit the floor just where he had been standing. Wasting no time and praying to God that his timing would be right, he immediately got up and bolted to the door.

"YOU THINK YOU CAN RUN FROM ME?!" Megatron shouted as he fired shot after shot at the running human. Alex was leaping from side to side on the gantry to avoid them. His leg was now on fire, the stitches struggling to stay in place as he ran. His adrenalin and blood pressure were beginning to skyrocket. Amazingly he managed to make it to the doorway unscathed. The ventilation shaft at which he arrived was just ahead.

Suddenly a shot from Megatron's weapon hit the floor a few inches from Alex, sending him flying. He fell to the ground on his belly. Winded, but conscious, He turned around just as a shadow loomed over him.

**Autobot base…**

Agent Fowler was frustrated. Rafael was refusing to explain Alex's absence and seemed to be avoiding the subject. However he could not dwell on this as Raf was busy assisting Ratchet and he himself had been dragged into talking to Bulkhead.

Suddenly a beeping from the computer indicated an incoming call. "Rafael," Optimus's voice boomed through the speaker. "Has Agent Fowler regained consciousness?"

"Stand by, Bulkhead. I'll be right back." Fowler said as he changed frequencies. "I'm here, Prime. What's your situation?"

"I require access to a research facility at my coordinates." Optimus explained.

"Let me make a call." Fowler replied as he took out his phone. He then moved deeper into the base to speak in private with his superiors.

Raf watched as Fowler disappeared round the corner. He had just uploaded the virus for Ratchet and was waiting for it to take effect. He checked his watch. 28 minutes. With Agent Fowler not watching, it was now or never…

**The **_**Nemesis…**_

Megatron stood above him with a look of anger on his face. "You are clever, human. But in the end you are nothing but a bug. And bugs are so easy to squash." He lifted his foot to trample Alex. In a splitsecond the foot was coming down on Alex fast.

"NO!" Alex shouted as he lifted his hand to shield himself.

At that point, Alex's body was in overdrive. It was producing a lot of body heat due to the combination of fear and adrenalin. Deep inside his system, this combination activated a collection of dormant cells. These cells had not been in his body for long, and if remained dormant, they would have been of no consequence. But these cells were volatile, and if activated they had the ability to create energy on an incomprehensible scale. This energy was now live, and if it had remained in Alex, it would have incinerated him instantly, but it didn't. It needed to be expelled, and that's exactly what happened.

Before Alex had time to think, a ball of cackling orange energy materialized in the outstretched palm of his hand. This ball of energy grew by the spilt second until it was the size of a bowling ball. When Alex had shouted the word 'No', the exclamation had provided the extra kick needed for the energy to be finally released. The energy was fired from his hand and hit Megatron squarely in the sole of his foot. The decepticon reeled back, howling in pain as energon began pouring out of the wound.

Alex sat up and looked at his hand. "What?" he said as he examined it. However he didn't have time to look at it as while Megatron was still in pain, the look he gave Alex had one meaning: Murder. He snarled as he moved to come back at Alex.

Alex quickly got back up and ran for all his worth towards the shaft. "_Please Please Please…" _was all that was going through his mind as he reached it. He was quick but Megatron was quicker. As Alex jumped down into the shaft Megatron took a swipe at him with his now extended blade. The blade missed him by inches. Alex fell to the floor of the shaft and faced it. No portal. He needed to repel Megatron. He turned back to the decepticon leader who, despite unable to follow him into the small shaft, was charging his blaster up for another shot.

Alex looked at his hands. "_If I did that," _he quickly thought to himself. "_Surely I can do it again?"_

He concentrated. In a second another ball of energy had appeared between his hands and was beginning to grow rapidly. Megatron had noticed this and paused. A Look of utter surprise on his face.

Alex kept concentrating. The heat coming from the orb was intense. "Interesting." He said out loud. When it became too much to bear, Alex made the motion of throwing the ball forward. The energy left his hands and hit Megatron in his left shoulder. The giant yelled out in pain and pulled back into the corridor clutching his injured side.

At the same time, a green light came from the shaft behind Alex. Turning round, he saw that his ride had come. Not wasting a second, Alex ran with all his might towards the glowing portal, the pain in his leg becoming too much to bear.

Behind him, Megatron roared "HUMAN!" while in a bout of pure hatred and pain. Watching as the boy disappeared through vortex and it closing behind him. With that Megatron howled to the ceiling…

**Autobot base…**

Rafael powered up the groundbridge and almost instantly Alex ran through. He breathed a sigh of relief. But before he could power down the device, Alex had stopped at the edge of it. He collapsed onto the floor and immediately unscrewing the bolts of the leg brace. With each bolt came instant relief. When it was finally off, he threw it onto the ground next to him and just sat there panting and seating buckets. He looked up at Raf, a look of pain, distress and fear etched on his face.

"Well, how'd it go?" Raf asked anxiously.

Alex looked up at the young boy, only now had he come to realize what Megatron had said.

He was stuck here.

He couldn't leave this world.

His family, his friends, he would never see them again.

His lower lip began to quiver as tears began to form in his eyes. Up until then he had been able to keep calm with the situation, but now he couldn't bear to hold it in.

Agent Fowler returned from around the corner. "Rafael, did I hear you power up the ground-"

He stopped as he saw Alex on the floor below. He had his head in his hands and was rocking back and forth. The sound of sobs could be heard.

Fowler turned to Raf. "What in Sam Hill happened?" he asked.

Raf said nothing. All he could do was be quiet and watch as the teenager sat on the floor and wept.

**To be continued…**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

**Autobot base…**

Darkness had fallen over the Nevada desert. While it may have been the middle of summer, the temperature was low enough to make anyone shiver. Alex didn't feel the cold though. He had been sitting on the roof of the base for the last hour and while it was indeed cold up here, the feeling of sitting in complete silence was compensating for the lack of warmth. It allowed Alex to clear his mind after the past few hours. He also couldn't stop looking at his hands.

After just sitting on the floor of the base for a full 10 minutes crying, he had looked up to find Rafael standing over him and offering him his walking stick, a look of kindness on his face. Alex looked up at the boy before wiping his now running nose and thankfully taking it.

As he stood up, he said, "Thanks for the help, Raf."

Raf nodded and enquired, "What happened? Did you see Megatron?"

Alex took a deep breath. "Uh…yeah…sort of." He replied. He opened his mouth to continue but was cut short by Agent Fowler.

"You need to explain to me right now what you did! Did you just say you saw MEGATRON?!" the former army ranger exclaimed.

Alex stared at him. He opened to say something but then decided against it. He began limping towards the elevator.

"Hold on a star-spangled moment! Come back-" but before Fowler could continue Optimus's voice rang out through the com link.

"Agent Fowler, have you warned the facility of the impending danger?"

Fowler had no choice but to turn to the computers. "The place is clear, Prime. Try not to wreck the joint. But please hurry. It seems we've had a situation here." He looked sternly at Raf. "Rafael will fill us in on everything…"

That had been an hour ago. During which time all of the Autobots had returned from their missions, including Bulkhead who had come flying through the groundbridge with a smoking hole in his back. Ratchet was probably attending to him presently with Miko right by his side. Optimus and Fowler were probably interrogating Raf and it would not be long before somebody came to find him.

He didn't have to wait long. He didn't break his gaze of the beautiful view when he heard the opening of the elevator doors and the sound of giant footsteps approaching him. He still didn't look up as Optimus came to stand above and next to him at the edge of the cliff. Optimus looked down at the boy before turning his gaze to the view. The plains had always reminded him of the sea of rust back on Cybertron, just much better all-round.

After a while, Alex finally spoke. "He told me I could never go home." He said slowly.

"Rafael informed us that something was wrong." Optimus replied. "What exactly did Megatron tell you?"

"He told me that it was impossible. That I'm basically stuck here." Alex giggled sarcastically. "I guess that makes us similar. We can both never go home." He said the last sentence dramatically, but Optimus noticed the single tear rolling down the boy's cheek. He made note to be extremely gentle with him.

"And what did you tell Megatron?"

Alex still looked to the plains. "I told him that I was useless to him, that me being here had changed the future."

"And has it?"

Alex finally broke his gaze and looked up to the giant. Optimus could now see that his eyes had watered and that another tear was on the verge of falling.

"Bulkhead's injured isn't he?" he said rhetorically.

Optimus could only gaze down at the boy in silence.

Alex turned back to the plains. The moon was full that night and sky was a royal blue. It reminded him of sitting on the balcony back home, looking up at Table Mountain in the moonlight. He took out his cellphone. He brought up a picture of his family taken last Christmas. It showed him and his two older sibling's playing cards with his parents at the dinner table. He remembered that he had lost miserably that night. He smiled at the memory. At the same time, another tear ran down his cheek.

"Is that your family?" Optimus asked, also looking down at the tiny screen.

"Yeah." Alex replied. "I promised my mom that I would be back by eight." He paused. "She'd wait for me before making dinner." That last thought brought the cascade of tears. Alex couldn't help it.

As he sobbed, he felt something pressing against his right shoulder. He turned to see Optimus had gently laid a finger on him. The Prime had kneeled down to next to him facing the cliff edge.

"Alex," Optimus began. "I cannot undo the damage done to you. All I can do is offer you sanctuary. And you need not fear being cast out. With or without the knowledge you hold, I believe that you are strong enough to continue moving forward. And while no way may currently be apparent, I promise to do everything in my power to help you get home."

Alex continued to look at Optimus before turning back to the view. He said nothing.

"Now," Optimus stood up slowly. "I ask that you accompany me back downstairs. Nurse Darby has arrived and your wound needs attending to."

"And you might want to ask Ratchet what exactly is wrong with me." Alex added.

The prime was confused. "I do not follow."

Alex snapped his fingers. A small orb of cackling energy appeared at his fingertips, he flicked it over the cliff and it travelled for a few meters before putting out.

He turned to look up at Optimus, on whose face a look of surprise and fascination had appeared.

"Now how can I do that?" Alex asked.

**To be continued…**

**Authors note: Sorry it's a little bit short, just something to keep you guys on your toes. **


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

**The **_**Nemesis…**_

Megatron was not happy. Apart from having deep gashes in his left foot and shoulder, only Soundwave had returned from his mission with something to show for it. He cursed Knock Out's incompetence, he cursed Starscream for still living, and above everything else, he cursed the specimen for the damage he had caused. He would have also cursed Hardshell but if his claims of him offlining the Autobot Bulkhead were true, this day might have had a scrap of a silver lining.

However he was not without knowing. After Knock Out had tended to his wounds, Soundwave had taken a closer look and found residual void particles imbedded in his injuries, the molecular make-up of background radiation. This was important news, as it explained how the human had been able to repel him with those orbs of energy. Megatron grimaced. The boy had power now. Undeniable power. It was a weapon he could not counter. This also meant that he could not risk opening up another bridge into the void, in case of any other humans falling through and becoming capable of defending themselves like that. But knowing how Optimus Prime cared for his human pets, Megatron figured that he would not let the boy out of the base, let alone put him on the battlefield. No, he was of no immediate threat to the decepticons. But Megatron looked forward to the day when he and the specimen would meet once again.

**The Autobot base…**

"Ow!" Alex exclaimed as June Darby set about his stitches. "Any chance of more pain tablets?"

"You've already had all the ones I brought with me." June replied patiently.

They were sitting on the medical berth on the upper level along with Agent Fowler on the phone to General Bryce, Miko sitting on the steps on the side, Raf sitting with his laptop on the couch and Jack standing with arms crossed and leaning against the guardrail. All of the Autobots were crowded around Ratchets medical computer with himself attending to Bulkhead who was still unconscious on the larger berth. Finally Fowler finished with his phone call.

"Yes, Sir." The agent hung up. "Turns out highlights of your Big Apple adventure got caught on security tape. "The pentagon needs me to run interference with the mayor." He glanced towards Bulkhead. "I'd try to stall, but-"

"Go where you are needed Agent Fowler." Optimus interjected. "There is nothing more you can do for Bulkhead at this time."

"Keep me posted, Prime." The agent moved towards the lift. As the doors opened he turned back. "I mean it."

With Fowler gone, Arcee reported that Wheeljack was on his way. Alex was looking rather forward to meeting the former wrecker, as he was a character in a league of his own. A rogue element that didn't adhere to protocol (to quote a forthcoming character in Season 3). But Alex could'nt help think that Wheeljack could eventually be killed off in the final episodes.

His train of thought was halted by June inserting another needle into another cut and the sound of Miko's outburst.

"I can't believe you're giving up on Bulkhead already!" she exclaimed.

"All I meant was Wheeljack and Bulkhead are close. I thought he'd want to be here." Arcee replied.

"I know what you meant." Miko snapped as she stormed off.

"Miko," Optimus asked sternly. "Where are you going?"

"Home! While Agent Fowler can still give me a lift." The elevator doors hissed shut behind her.

Arcee started moving towards the human living area but was stopped when Optimus placed a hand on her shoulder.

"She needs time." He said.

"It's not Miko I want to talk to right now." Arcee replied as a frown started to appear. She moved closer to where Alex and June were sitting. "Looks like you've got some explaining to do." She said as she stared Alex right in the eye.

Alex opened his mouth to speak but then winced at a new bout of pain. "Ugh! Easy please, Ms. Darby." He asked June.

"You ripped most of your stiches open. There's no way I can be easy." She replied.

Jack stood upright and glanced at Raf. "Raf, why did you help him?"

Raf couldn't bring himself to look at Jack. "He said he needed to face Megatron."

"And you didn't stop to think about what you were doing?" Jack pressed on.

Alex saw that the young boy was in an awkward position and did not approve of Jack putting more pressure on him. He spoke up.

"Raf was working on my instructions therefore I take full responsibility for what he did. He was just helping me to get to Megatron."

"And just what exactly did you need to speak to Megatron about that propelled you to open an unauthorized groundbridge?!" Ratchet had joined the conversation, a frown also appearing on his face.

Alex looked to the medic. "Let's just say he might not be bothering me from now on." He said.

Ratchet was done with the constant lying. He turned to his leader. "Optimus, I demand that you immediately explain to us who or what this child is."

"Forget it; I'm not prepared to wait." Arcee interrupted. She turned back to Alex, a fiery look on her face. "How do you know about us?"

"Arcee…" Optimus began.

"It's alright, Optimus." Alex interrupted. He turned to June. "Are we done, Ms. Darby?"

"I think so. Just don't apply to much pressure to the leg. And you can forget about using that brace again. That equipment hasn't been used in years for a reason." She began packing her bag. Alex slowly got up from the berth, grabbed his walking stick and began slowly making his way towards the guardrail and the Autobot onlookers.

"The reason I know about you is way too complicated to explain, Arcee. Optimus will agree with me on that." Alex began. "The reason why I went to see Megatron was to convince him that I didn't actually know about you guys. He thought that I could tell him where your base was located."

"And can you?" Arcee interjected.

"Of course. Jasper, Nevada." Now it was Alex's turn to frown. "You don't think I would have actually told him, do you?"

"Looking at how you're dodging questions, I for one am finding it extremely difficult to trust you." Arcee replied.

Alex gave a small grin at this. "You don't need to trust me, Arcee. Just don't ask questions about me."

Bumblebee had come over and chirped and beeped something at Alex. Alex turned to Raf for translation.

"Bee wants to know if you can tell us where you're from." Raf said.

Alex smiled. "Cape Town, South Africa." He said.

All he got was looks of confusion.

They were startled by the sound of a powerful engine. They all turned see to a white sports car speed through the entrance, transform mid-air and land with a thud in front them.

"What's the damage, Doc?" Wheeljack immediately asked.

"Bulkhead suffered massive trauma to his central neural conduit." Ratchet explained.

Wheeljack approached the medic. "I've watched you work. You're a maestro."

Ratchet was worried. "The Tox-En exposure has caused system wide shut-down on a sub-micronic level. I can't even begin to operate until Bulkhead regains some strength."

Wheeljack took a deep breath. He looked around the base and only then did he notice Alex.

"Who's the new kid?" He asked.

"Alex. Nice to meet you, Wheeljack." He introduced.

"Yeah, whatever." Shrugged the former wrecker before turning to Optimus. "You gonna tell me who did this to him?"

"At the moment I believe it's best to focus our attention on Bulkheads recovery, rather than revenge." Advised the Prime.

Wheeljack glance in Bulkheads direction. "You do that." He stated before turning round, transforming and racing out of the base with a squeal of his tyres.

"Wheeljack will most likely do something rash you know." Said Ratchet.

"And I am not sure that we could stop him if we wanted to." Replied Optimus.

"I wouldn't worry." Said Alex. "He can look after himself."

"And you'd know that, wouldn't you." Arcee shot back.

Alex couldn't help himself. "I would, actually."

"Ratchet," Optimus began. "Would it be possible for you to examine Alex?"

"For what exactly?" Ratchet seemed as if he couldn't care less.

Optimus nodded at Alex. "Show them."

Alex stood up straight. Leaning his walking stick against rail, he held his hands in front of him. His face showed concentration as his hands momentarily froze. Suddenly with the crackling of electricity an orb of glowing orange energy materialized between his palms. Every jaw in the room, apart from Optimus, dropped.

As the crackling grew louder and bolts from the orb shot out further, Alex shouted "Optimus, I need somewhere to throw it!"

Optimus quickly looked round the base. In a corner his eyes fell upon a stack of empty energon cubes. "The corner to your right!" he shouted.

Alex spotted the boxes and with a sweep of his arms, the energy fired itself in the right direction. The orb hit the cubes with a deafening explosion. The cubes were blown apart instantly. When the smoke had cleared, they saw the walls surrounding the corner were completely black and bits of smoking metal lay about on the floor.

Alex looked down at his hands. There wasn't a singe on them. He glanced at the medic whose jaw was still scraping the floor.

Ratchet saw Alex looking at him and immediately closed his mouth. "Uh… one quick scan wouldn't hurt…"

…..

"By the allspark." Ratchet stated as he finished running his scanner over Alex's body. "The background radiation inside of you has been activated."

"What's background radiation?" asked Raf.

"The particles that exist between dimensions." Ratchet explained. "They make up the space that we call the void. It is speculated that because these particles technically do not exist, they are extremely powerful. When grouped together they become volatile, and are capable of massive destruction. Alex's body has been completely exposed to the void, therefore absorbing the particles into his physical form."

"But if these particles are as powerful as you say they are, shouldn't Alex be up in flames or something?" Asked Jack.

"Correct." Confirmed Ratchet. "But Alex has somehow found a way to safely expel the energy."

"When I first released the energy, I was quite active." Alex said. "Running from Megatron and all that. Might be connected."

"Perhaps." Agreed Ratchet. "But the bigger question is how you came to be exposed to the void. It is only possible if you gained access through a rip in the fabric of reality, and even that anomaly is theoretical."

A lie was needed here. Alex shrugged his shoulders. "Beats me."

Arcee narrowed he optics. She wasn't buying that but she said nothing.

"If possible, Optimus I would like to run a few more test to see-"

"I think Alex has been prodded and poked enough for one day." Interrupted June before turning to the other two boys. "And it's way past curfew for both of you. Ratchet could you open a bridge for me?"

"Of course, Nurse Darby." Replied Ratchet. He made his way to the controls.

"Let's hit the road, Jack." Said Arcee. She transformed and waited, revving her engine impatiently.

"You're not bridging home with me, you two?" asked June.

"No thanks." Said Jack simply as he and Raf walked down to where Arcee and now Bumblebee as well, were waiting.

"See you tomorrow, guys." Alex called after them. Raf waved back but Jack just ignored him.

Jack watched as both boys left the base with their guardians. He then turned to Ratchet.

"Ratchet," he said. "Since I do not like the idea of there being particles inside me that could kill me at any moment, you can run your tests tonight if you want."

Ratchet looked back at the boy. "You expect me to not ask questions meanwhile?"

Alex shrugged. "Depends on the questions."

While Ratchet was still not comfortable with the boy, he thought it would be better to examine him while he was concurrent. He looked to Optimus for approval and received it. He nodded. "Let's get to work then, shall we?"

Alex nodded back. "But first," he added. "You need to tell me where Agent Fowler keeps his stash of coffee."

…..

They were halfway back to Jasper when Arcee finally spoke. "Don't trust him, Jack." She said.

"What?"

"Don't trust Alex. He's dangerous." She elaborated.

"But it looks like he has control over the background radi-"

"I don't mean that." Arcee snapped. "I mean he's keeping something from all of us, except for Optimus."

"Well obviously." Scoffed Jack. "I'm not blind, Arcee."

Arcee didn't reply. Her sudden increase in speed showed Jack that she was really annoyed. He knew that Alex had hit a nerve by naming her former partners, and he did not like to see his partner in distress.

"He's supposed to be coming with us to school tomorrow." He said. "Is there anything you want me to do?"

Arcee was quiet for a few more moments. "Watch every word he says."

**To be continued…**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

**Jasper, Nevada…**

The students at Jasper high had gotten used to seeing a yellow muscle car, a big green SUV and a blue motorcycle dropping three kids off in the morning at the main entrance and then picking them up later in the day. As they made their way to the doors, they failed to hear or notice a large red and blue semi pull up around the corner next to the building. Optimus had offered to drive Alex to school that morning. He had been confused by Alex's request to drop him off out of sight, but Alex explained that a vehicle of Optimus's size would attract unnecessary attention from onlookers.

The previous night had been a long one. Ratchet had wasted no time in properly examining Alex. After several blood tests, full-body scans, and movement analyses, He had come up with absolutely nothing to account for Alex's ability. It figured, as because these particles did not technically exist in reality, it was impossible to actually find, isolate, analyze or destroy them. Alex did not take this conclusion well, but Ratchet had assured him that he would continue researching on a 'cure.' Somehow Alex wasn't hopeful.

"Thanks for the lift, Optimus." Alex said as he undid his seatbelt.

"You're welcome, Alex." Optimus replied. "I have already asked Bumblebee to transport you back to base after school along with Rafael. Your cover with the school should be set up. If anything occurs, contact us immediately."

"Sure thing." Alex said. "Any word from Miko?" he asked.

"No." said Optimus. "But I am confident that Wheeljack will keep her from harm."

Miko had failed to ask Agent Fowler for a lift home. Instead she had decided to a pull a revenge stunt with the former wrecker. Alex had to admire the girl, and was not at all worried about what would happen.

He took a deep breath. "See you later, Optimus." He said as he exited the cabin. A moment later Optimus began to roll down the street with a hiss of his breaks. Alex began to walk round the corner. As he walked, he looked across the road to the bench he had sat on when had first arrived in Jasper. It seemed such a long time ago now. As he approached the steps, Bumblebee gave a rev of his engine as he and Arcee pulled up next to him.

As Raf and Jack disembarked, he greeted them. "Hey, guys."

"Hi, Alex." Replied Raf. Jack just mumbled something and walked straight towards the doors. Raf turned back to his guardian. "Bye, 'Bee." Bumblebee beeped something back before starting his engine. As Raf and Alex turned around and began making their way into the school, Alex spared a glance at Arcee. For some reason he could not shake off the feeling that she was watching him.

As the two boys disappeared from view, the two Autobots pulled out of the parking lot and headed down the main road.

Suddenly Bumblebee chirped something at Arcee.

"I don't trust him, that's why." She replied. "Why do you? He used Raf, didn't he?"

More chirps and whirs.

"Yeah, I suppose he didn't put him in direct danger, but that doesn't change anything about what he did."

Bumblebee continued to chirp and whir his thoughts. Arcee turned back to concentrating on the road ahead.

"I'd be more concerned, 'Bee." She said. "He's dangerous. And I don't mean because he make lightning come from his hands…"

…..

First class of the day was History. Raf had been kind enough to point out the direction of the classroom to Alex since Jack was refusing to talk with him. As he walked in he noticed a familiar face at the back of the classroom. Vince. Alex decided to pay no attention to the school bully, as he didn't want to kick up a storm on his first day. Jack had found himself a desk next to the window, while Alex was forced to a vacant desk in the middle of the room ("_Where everyone can see me," _he thought. _"Great."_). As he sat down, he felt something small hit the back of his neck. Turning round he saw Vince looking at him, a smirk on his face and his rubber in his hand.

Ignoring him, Alex turned back round and started flipping through the textbook he had brought with him. The content of which was mostly about American history, with the exception of the world wars. Alex was not really familiar with America's history, as most of what he learnt back home was about the _Apartheid _era. Alex had been wondering if this world's South Africa had endured the same hardships as his had but before he could continue thinking about the subject, Jack's teacher entered the classroom.

"Settle down." He said as he walked towards his desk. "Right class, before we begin, I'd just like to take moment to welcome someone new to our class. He's an exchange student. Please welcome Alex Matthews." He gestured towards Alex.

Again, while he was used to performing to crowds, the feeling of all eyes turning towards Alex made him shift in his seat.

"Where are you from exactly, Alex?" Asked the teacher.

"Cape Town, South Africa." Answered Alex.

"Very interesting. Glad to have you with us."

"Yeah, I'm sure he can tell us a lot about the wild animals in his backyard." Remarked Vince out loud. To this the class lightly laughed, including Jack by the window.

"Thank you for the comment, Vince." The teacher stated. "I must ask Alex, what happened to your leg?" He had noticed the walking stick leaning against Alex's chair.

"Climbing accident. Should be fine in a couple of days." Alex quickly responded.

The teacher nodded before turning to the blackboard "Let's get on with today's lesson, shall we…"

Alex sighed. It was going to be a long day….

…..

**Autobot base…**

With Arcee and Bumblebee on patrol after returning from dropping the kids off at school, Ratchet spent his time attending to Bulkhead, who by that stage was stable but still critical. He was furious for Wheeljack allowing Miko to go with him to find the 'con that had hurt her guardian. He thought about continuing to work on researching void particles for Alex, but he decided that Bulkhead for the moment was more important.

"Ratchet," Optimus stated as he walked into the room. "How is Bulkhead?"

"Critical, but stable." Replied the medic. "I should be able to begin to operate soon, though I do not want to rush the recovery process."

"He is in good hands, old friend." Remarked the Prime. "Bulkhead is a strong warrior."

They were silent for a few moments. Finally Ratchet turned to Optimus.

"Optimus," he said. "While I am not one to question your judgment, do you think it wise to maintain such secrecy over Alex from our compatriots? Arcee appears to be growing more and more agitated by his presence. I fear she could possibly…"

Optimus considered this for a moment. "While I can understand Arcee's growing feelings towards Alex, the knowledge he carries could result in him becoming something which we would want to exploit to our advantage."

Ratchet was shocked by this explanation. "Are you saying that boy has information which could benefit team Prime, and you're preventing this?!"

"Benefit us, but also threaten us. I believe it is in our best interests to never gain that knowledge. Please understand this, Ratchet." Optimus said.

Ratchet was astounded. But while his anger over Optimus's silence over Alex, he could somewhat understand the logic behind it. And he knew that Optimus would only do this if it were in the best interests of the team.

"I…understand." He finally said.

"Thank you." Optimus said.

Ratchet turned back to Bulkhead, his mind in overdrive thinking. He now understood why Megatron sought to seize Alex, a miracle being that Alex had somehow managed to convince Megatron to leave him alone. Perhaps the boy had told him something that he didn't want to hear. Nevertheless, he would have to stay with the autobots until such time that his knowledge was revealed or rendered redundant. However Ratchet was more concerned over how the other autobots would react if they knew what he had just learned.

He just hoped that the children were not trying to get Alex to speak out over what he knew…

….

**Jasper High…**

Cafeteria food had never appealed to anyone, and it certainly didn't to Alex. He had managed to find an empty table in the far corner and was picking off edible pieces of what was apparently labeled a Sheppard's pie. He then looked up to find Raf sitting opposite him, unpacking a brown paper bag from his backpack.

"My mom makes my lunch." He said.

"That's cool." Alex replied. "Beats the food here that's for sure."

Raf gave a small grin. "So, you're really from South Africa?"

"Yep." Said Alex. "What do you want to know?"

"Where you're really from." Butted in Jack. He had come out of nowhere and had roughly sat down next to Raf. A frown on his face.

"Raf, Alex and I need to talk in private." He said with seriousness in his face. Raf looked up at Jack slightly fearful and turned to Alex.

Alex nodded. "It's okay, Raf. Just give a few moments, would you?" he said gently.

Raf nodded. He grabbed his backpack and headed down the aisle.

Alex turned to Jack. "Look Jack, I know you're not exactly thrilled by me being-"

He didn't finish the sentence. Jack now had a look of anger on his face. "Listen here. I don't know who you are, what you are or why you're here. All I know is that you are not telling us everything, even Optimus. But understand, I am going find out."

Alex saw that the teenager was being serious now. "Did Arcee put you up to this?"

Jack continued "And if you hurt anybody on team Prime, you answer to me. Understand?"

Now it was Alex's turn to get serious. He had learned that he could never go home and if he wanted to survive here, he would have to do more than fire orbs of energy. Looking Jack straight in the eye, he said "And if you care about what happens to Arcee or any other autobot, you won't ask those questions. You do care about them, don't you? I mean, you cared so much about Optimus that you went all the way to Cybertron to restore him."

This caught Jack off guard. Looking wide-eyed at Alex he started "How did you-"

"Like I said, I know things." Alex interjected.

Jack was ready to make a grab for Alex but before he could, a commotion at the cafeteria caught both their attention. Turning round they saw a crowd had circled some other students. Looking over their heads they could make out the tallest one. Vince.

Raf.

Jack and Alex grabbed their stuff and ran over to the crowd. Pushing their way through they found Vince standing Raf, who was on the floor feeling around for his glasses while trying to avoid slipping on spilt milk.

"Awww, is the wimp going to start crying? Probably won't since his eyes don't even work." Vince teased without warrant.

"Enough, Vince." Jack stepped in.

"Butt out, Darby. This doesn't concern you." Vince shot back.

Alex noticed a bruise on Rafael's left temple. Probably got there when Vince had knocked his glasses off. Alex was never one for tolerating bullies. Coincidently he had perfect leverage on this one.

"Careful, Vince. Darby might dare you to a race." He remarked.

Vince looked up at Alex. A surprised look on his face. Looking round, he saw that the some of the students had begun to snicker and giggle, reminded of how Jack Darby's motorcycle had wiped the floor with his beloved hotrod.

Turning slightly red, he mumbled something about the wimp not being worth it and pushed his way through the crowd out of the cafeteria.

The crowd begun to disperse. Alex knelt down, picked up Raf's glasses and handed them to the young boy. He took them thankfully and stood up.

"Thanks." Raf said.

"That bruise looks bad. You might want to get it checked out." Alex replied.

"Come on, Raf. Let's go see the nurse." Jack said as he took Raf by the shoulder and led him out the door, giving Alex a sour look before exiting.

Alex just stood there leaning on his walking stick. He sighed. Like he had thought earlier today; long day…

**To be continued….**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

**Autobot base…**

Bumblebee had not seen Optimus near the entrance as he came speeding through the tunnel. A squeal of tyres and screech of brakes saw the scout drifting past the Prime with inches to spare. As he came to a stop near the steps, both his doors opened to allow Raf and Alex to exit. Arcee and Jack, who had been closely following them stopped just next to them. Jack took his helmet off as Arcee stood up.

"How was school?" enquired Optimus ignoring the fact that Bumblebee had almost crashed in to him.

"Interesting." Replied Alex. "Definitely not like what I'm used to."

Before Raf could make his way up the stairs he was stopped by Alex.

"Raf," he said. Could I borrow your laptop for a while? I need to check a few things out on the internet."

"Sure." Replied Raf. "Hey Bee, you wanna play video games?"

Bumblebee chirped happily in agreement. Meanwhile Arcee turned to Jack. "You wanna go for a ride?"

"I've got homework to do." Jack said as he sat down in one of the old armchairs. Arcee shrugged her shoulders and started to head off to the training center down the corridor.

Alex had retrieved Raf's laptop and had proceeded to make himself comfy in one of the chairs at the main computer console. He fired it up and immediately opened the default search engine. He began by searching main networks without success. Facebook, Twitter, Youtube. None of them appeared to exist. He then moved on to Transformers. Nothing. Not even a whiff of a toy with the same name. Alex was growing frustrated. In the series common things like social network names or search engines were not addressed. Sure, this had no affect on the show overall, but it was still deeply annoying for Alex not to be able to recognize anything. He slumped back in the chair and sighed. This caught the attention of Jack who meanwhile was trying to finish his science but was having great trouble concentrating. He was too far to see what Alex was looking for, but his body language told him that he wasn't finding it. His eyes narrowed.

Alex failed to notice that he was being watched. He had moved to world history. All the big dates were still there. He tried cities of the world. All the big names were still there too, apart from Las Vegas which had been replaced by Jasper, this world's entertainment capital. Politics. No changes there either.

Then Alex noticed something about the statistics that came up, particularly the population numbers. A quick general search revealed that as of the year 2011, Planet Earth's population was just over the five billion mark. This made huge sense. The idea that the Autobots were able to keep such a low profile when blowing stuff up and leaving massive craters behind in their wake, and of the decepticons having so many energon mining operations and cruising around in a spaceship the size of four Titanics were somewhat far-fetched in terms of being real. Fewer humans meant fewer possible witnesses (Apart from the supposed nerd who had been able capture Bumblebee running in bipedal form down a town street in _new Recruit_.).

Alex moved to power down the device but not before deleting the internet history. While the action of doing that might be seen as very suspicious, the alternative of someone discovering the history was not preferable.

Unfortunately, Jack happened to see Alex do this.

Alex closed the laptop and hobbled towards where Raf was sitting on the couch. "Thanks, Raf." He said to the boy.

Raf merely nodded as his attention was on beating Bumblebee at racing.

Alex then drew his attention over to Bulkhead. The wrecker was still on the medical berth as on schedule. The steady beep of a monitor indicated that he was still alive.

Alex stood there. He realized that he had no idea of what to do with himself. He couldn't just sit there, do nothing and wait for _Transformers Prime _to conclude after the 90 minute special, and there was the nagging question of what comes after that. On a positive note his injured leg gave him the perfect excuse to stay off the battlefield and out of certified events, but what would he do meanwhile?

Wait. What was he thinking? Here was standing with a new found ability that could be explored. Thinking of how he could shoot energy from his fingertips was now becoming really cool. Actually come to think of it, what he actually needed was a bit of target practice. Obviously there would be some objection to this from some of the Autobots, but since many of them didn't trust him anyway so what was there to lose? He would to contain it though, find some nice quiet corner in the base and stay there.

But surely there was more that Alex could do around here. Suddenly he had a brainwave. Perhaps he could learn a new language like Raf was basically doing. It would certainly come in handy if he found himself to be having to operate alien machinery.

Walking stick in hand, he made his way to the other side of the balcony to where Optimus was standing at the main computer bank.

"Optimus," he said. "Would it be possible for you to teach me cybertronian?"

Optimus turned to the teenager. He raised his eyebrows. "Why the sudden interest?"

"Well, considering I have quite a bit of time on my hands and since the only skill I seem to have is to blow stuff up with my hands, it might help if I found something productive to do." Alex explained.

Optimus thought about it for a moment. "It would prove to be very difficult. Rafael is also learning but through helping Ratchet with our equipment. Are you willing to take up such a challenge?"

Alex nodded eagerly. As he did the ping of an incoming message came from the monitor. Optimus brought up the message and read it.

"It is from Wheeljack." He stated. "He and Miko are on their way back to base."

He turned back to Alex. "It is important that I see to it that Miko returns safely. We could begin tomorrow if you wish."

Alex nodded again. 'Out of the past,' flashback episode, Arcee and Miko on the roof, couldn't be a better day to get cracking on learning the most confusing of symbols.

Before Alex could move off, Optimus leaned in closer and said hushed tones "Please answer me this though if possible." He looked around for anyone who could be listening. Finding none, he asked "For the sake of Miko, will Bulkhead fully recover?"

Alex gave a small grin at this. You just had to admire Optimus's character.

"Yes," he replied. "Yes he does."

And with that answer, Alex saw a sight that was unique to the show, the sight of a small smile forming on Optimus's lips.

Unfortunately, under the cover of pretending to read, Jack had heard all of this…

….

"And then he said that Bulkhead will fully recover." Jack finished his story to Arcee.

The two of them were standing at the end of a corridor deep within the base. After Arcee had finished her training session she had met Jack coming up to meet her. He had relayed everything he had seen and heard, (as well as what Alex had told him at school that day) and was in the process of trying to figure it out what it all meant.

"Well, Bulkhead is making good progress. Maybe he just said that to keep Optimus's hopes up." Suggested Arcee, despite of what she thought about Alex's movements.

"No, Arcee." Said Jack. "He knows it. The way he said it to Optimus. It sounded full of confidence."

"hmmm…" thought Arcee. She went quiet for a few moments.

After a while, Jack stated "He knew about Cybertron, he knew about your partners. What else does he know? For all we know he could be a spy for the 'cons."

"That wouldn't explain why Megatron would try and hurt him." Arcee replied. "Optimus was there when Megatron attacked Alex."

"So what is he?"

"I don't know."

"So what do we do?"

Arcee looked down at her partner and took a deep breath. "Alex is definitely hiding things from us, like how he really came to be exposed to background radiation. Like Optimus said, he's gonna be here for a while. It's only a matter of time before he lets something slip."

"And then what?" Asked Jack.

"Then we trap him into telling us everything…"

**To be continued…**

**Author's note: From here on in there will be a bit of time jumping, so brace yourselves.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

**Cape Town, South Africa; a few days later…**

Nobody saw Alex standing behind the tree. He watched as the other Alex got into a car with his brother and sister. Probably off to see a movie together. Alex felt a small lump form in his throat. His family looked happy, his family that wasn't actually his.

Optimus had only agreed to allow this trip after much pleading from Alex. Over the past few days while Bulkhead had been recovering Optimus had begun cybertronian lessons with Alex. The going had been tough; especially with all the different tenses (Optimus intended to be very thorough with his teachings), but Alex had managed to struggle up to a point where he could understand basic commands in the eon-old language. It was after all just a matter of understanding certain patterns and line sequences. He had had also a bit of assistance from Raf, with whom at the moment Alex was trying be friends with, despite the looks he got from both Jack, Arcee and sometimes Bumblebee. Truth be told, Alex had been unsure of whether he actually wanted to do something like this, but his brain insisted that he had to make sure of this world's version of him. And there he was, living a normal life with his family, the only evident difference being their senses of fashion.

As they drove away, Alex took a deep breath. Looking up he was greeted by the view of the university and of looming Devil's Peak. He had hoped to go study at UCT after he finished high school. Maybe he still would.

He took out his phone and dialed base. He wasn't worried about using it openly anymore, not after Raf had accidently discovered it and drooled over its apparent 'awesomeness.' Alex was then forced to come up with a quick lie about how it was a military prototype and how he was testing it for them. He was just happy that the young boy hadn't stumbled across the hidden files. After a moment Ratchet answered.

"Yes?"

"Could I have a bridge back to base please, Ratchet?" Alex asked.

"One moment. And by the way," Ratchet continued. "While you were out, we discovered a cybertronian escape pod that had crash landed on Earth"

Alex acted surprised. "Really? Anyone inside it?"

"An autobot." Ratchet replied. "He's in the base right now."

"Looking forward to meeting him." Alex said before ending the call. A minute later a green portal sparked into existence behind Alex.

"_A new arrival." _Thought Alex. "_Aka new recruit."_

**Autobot base…**

The groundbridge immediately powered down as Alex walked clear of its mouth. Back inside the base, he looked round to see that all of the Autobots and the kids had gathered round the newcomer. Smokescreen.

He was as tall as Bumblebee. Painted silver with blue streaks, Alex could still not to this day think of what had convinced the mech to change to a blue and yellow color scheme in Season 3, when he looked great already. He had not noticed Alex's appearance yet, as his back was turned towards him. Optimus, however did notice. He turned to Alex. "Alex, this is Smokescreen. He crash landed here on Earth last night."

The new arrival turned round and looked down at the teenager. "Hey kid. Nice to meet ya."

"Likewise." Replied Alex as he headed towards the stairs, not paying much attention to the autobot.

Smokescreen looked back at Optimus confused. "Is he always like this?"

"Alex usually keeps to himself." Optimus explained. "He is an intern working under Agent Fowler. He prefers not to get involved in our 'situations.'"

Smokescreen and glanced at Alex. He had made himself comfy on the couch and was quietly going through a notebook with his cybertronian 'homework.'

Smokescreen wanted to ask Alex a question but his attention was then grabbed by Optimus.

"As I was saying, Smokescreen." The Prime continued. "I would suggest that you take time to get acclimated with your surroundings. A tour of the base would be an excellent start."

Miko jumped at the chance. "Sure thing." She said excitedly. However she noticed the sight of Bulkhead sighing and leaning against the wall of the base.

"I mean," she corrected. "Jack here offers a very informative tour."

Smokescreen turned to the sixteen year old. All he got back was an expression that defined awkwardness. Jack didn't like the idea very much, so he decided that he would pass it on.

"Actually," he said. "I believe Alex might be better in terms of being informed to lead on. Hey, Alex?"

Alex didn't look up from his notebook. Instead he simply said. "I only just got here, so don't expect me to know much about the place. Back to you, Jack"

Optimus looked at Jack. "Jack," he said. "Would you mind showing Smokescreen around the base?"

Jack gritted his teeth and turned to the leader. "Sure thing, Optimus." he replied.

"lead on, then." Smokescreen commented as he followed Jack down the hallway.

"…_Dat was a close one." _Thought Alex.

Now hopefully he would be allowed to remain on that couch for the rest of the day…

…..

**Later….**

He was. By submersing himself in study time, he had completely avoided 'New recruit.' However he couldn't feel a bit saddened by Bulkheads depressive state. He watched as the wrecker limped slowly down the corridor leaving a disappointed Miko standing in the middle of the floor.

He turned back to his book. He failed to notice Smokescreen approaching.

"Don't say much, do you." He commented.

Alex looked up at the mech. "Not much to say, I guess." He replied. He turned back to his book.

"So, what do you guys do around here for fun?" Smokescreen asked, trying to cheer up the mood.

"Video games, rock concerts and basically getting into trouble." Alex replied.

Suddenly Alex threw the book down on the table with a sigh of frustration. "This is ridiculous." He said through gritted teeth. There was only so much time that one could stare at squiggly lines and try to understand their meaning. He thought for a moment before standing up and heading for the stairs.

"Optimus, I'm going to the target range for a while if that's okay." He called out to Optimus.

The prime looked at Alex and merely nodded. Alex headed towards the main corridor.

Smokescreen watched as Alex vanished from site. For some reason he couldn't understand, he found himself fascinated by the kid.

And what was that about a target range?

…

At the end of one of the corridors there was a small atrium. What had previously served as empty space now served as a practice room for Alex's unique ability. With the help of a few cans of paint, several targets had been painted at various intervals and different heights on all the walls. However some of the targets now had black charred gashes all over them.

One of the targets was receiving such gashes right now, as Alex fired round after round of energy shots. Most of the shots were mostly on the right side of the target, showing that his arms were pulling to the right. It was like trying to play baseball and swinging the bat right to hit the ball.

Alex stopped for a moment. The holes on the wall continued to smoke. He had discovered a way to fire continuous shots by building up energy in boths hands simultaneously. His record right now was 8 shots after each other. However because they didn't have much time to build up they were not extremely powerful shots.

Alex turned to a new target on the opposite wall. Feet planted firmly on the ground and putting his hands together slightly apart, he allowed the energy to build up without stopping. The single orb crackled ferociously as bolts of energy struck his chest and the floor underneath. Despite the torturous burning sensations coming from his body, Alex held on until the orb was the size of a beach ball. In an instant he threw the orb towards the target. It looked as if he had hit the center perfectly but it didn't matter. The energy hit the wall with an explosion that rocked the atrium. Alex was thrown off his feet but miraculously managed to avoid landing on his bad leg.

When the smoke cleared enough Alex sat up. On the wall where the target had been once painted was a gaping black hole. Upon looking at it, Alex reckoned that it must have been at least 3 meters in diameter and 2 meters deep. He stood up, dusted himself off and reached for the pain tablets in his pocket.

"Whoa." Said a voice behind him. Alex turned to see Smokescreen standing at the edge of the corridor.

"How did you do that?" He asked with wide optics.

Alex took out the medication while shrugging his shoulders. "One of a kind human." He said before swallowing two tablets.

"Maybe I was wrong about you lifeforms." Said Smokescreen as he took a step forward.

"Never judge by appearances." Alex replied. He walked over to aside ledge and took a bottle of water that he had put there. "What about you? You sure about that color scheme?" he asked before taking a swig of water.

Smokescreen checked his wings out. "Yeah, I was hoping for something a bit more blue-ish."

To that, Alex shook his head lightly. "You should keep it like that." He pointed out. "Suits you."

There was hope.

Alex checked the time on his phone. It was getting late, and he wasn't sure how he would be able to avoid interfering in 'the human factor' tomorrow. Perhaps it would be better to just stay at the base and 'monitor' the situation from there.

"I'm going to bed." He said as he walked out of the atrium. "Goodnight, Smokescreen."

"Sleep tight…Alex." Smokescreen replied as he watched the human go. He was completely puzzled by Alex. Not only that, but he was confused as to why he hadn't been more interested in the arrival of a new autobot. Maybe he was just shy.

Guess that the kid didn't get out much.

**To be continued…**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

**Autobot base…**

"Ratchet," Optimus's voice rang out through the comm link. "Can you remotely disable project Damocles under Agent Fowler's advisement?"

Ratchet and Bulkhead looked at the screen wide-eyed. "On a human based computer network?" Ratchet stated. "Without my backup? Without Rafael?"

He then turned to Agent Fowler on the upper level. "Agent Fowler," he said. "We require Rafael's assistance."

"Understood. Bridge us to his home." Replied Fowler as he grabbed a file containing the details of the satellite. He turned to Jack and Miko who were sitting on the couch. "You two coming?" he asked.

"Yeah!" exclaimed Miko jumping up. She thought for a moment. "Wait, wouldn't Alex like to come with?"

"He's not here. Said he was going for a walk." Said Jack as he quickly stood up. "There's no time to go and find him."

Their attention was then grabbed by the groundbridge powering up, as well as Ratchet urging them to hurry. "You must act quickly…" he said.

….

**Outside the town of Jasper…**

It was freezing that night in the Nevada desert, with the clouds overheard threatening to continue their downpour from earlier that evening. There wasn't a soul in sight, and while it was eerily quiet, it remained somewhat comforting. If Alex had been back home, he wouldn't have dared venture into the night at that hour. But he wasn't home. He was in the middle of nowhere, and he was all alone. However, despite having a valid reason to be out walking (Nurse Darby had advised that he begin exercising the muscles in his leg), he had his own agenda.

It was quite a long walk to the place where he had originally materialized, but he wasn't sure how long 'the human factor' would last, so no worries of returning to the base too early. While he was certain that his presence at the Esquivel household would have had no effect on the outcome of the episode, he still couldn't risk taking part. Besides, it's not like anyone would miss him.

About half an hour passed until he finally reached the signpost on the main route in and out of Jasper. A little further on he found the two rock formations in-between which the spacebridge had spat him out. Standing there now Alex could feel nothing special about the place. He wasn't exactly sure what he expected to find here (maybe some residual energy of some kind), but there was nothing to indicate that a vortex into space had opened up here. Alex slumped his shoulders. He had wasted his time coming here. Still, he had done some good walking.

The Autobot base was to his right of the town. Alex set off in that direction, walking just on the border of Jasper near the west canal system. To his surprise and excitement he could just make out Silas/Breakdown and Bulkhead fighting it out. The brawl must have just begun as Smokescreen was nowhere in sight and Bulkhead was still putting up a good fight despite his still healing injuries. Keeping quiet Alex walked towards the edge of the canal, hoping to get a better look without being seen. He eventually found a spot and sat with his legs hanging over the canal wall. "_No harm in watching a scene unfold._" He thought to himself.

The fight was intense, but with each blow Alex could see Bulkhead buckling under, his muscles struggling to endure the pain. After a while Silas clipped Bulk on the back sending him flying. The autobot lay on the ground unmoving as the human hybrid walked up behind him. From his sitting place Alex could just make out Silas saying the words "You should've stayed in bed Autobot." But then the sound of an engine and of transformation could be heard and before he could swing down with his hammer, Silas was propelled back by Smokescreen's flying kick. The new recruit walked over to give Bulkhead a hand. "Assist." He said. "What the new guy's for." The two Autobots then turned to Silas who had recovered from the blow. "One new guy to another," he said while cricking his neck joints and readying his hammer. "This is your final day on the job." Silas attacked with brute force, slamming his weapon into the ground just where his adversaries had been standing.

What Alex would have given at that point for some popcorn. "_HD eat your heart out." _He thought absent-mindedly. He continued to watch the fighting for a few more minutes, during which the two Autobots had combined forces to give Silas the aft-whipping of his life. Silas finally hit the ground and instead of immediately reacting, he seemed to hesitate. Probably Megatron in his ear ordering him to return to the _Nemesis _at once. With that he launched a missile at the Autobots and made for the groundbridge portal that had appeared behind him.

…..

As the smoke from the missile blast cleared, Bulkhead and Smokescreen stood up just in time to see the 'Decepticon' disappear through the green portal. The two Autobots then looked up to the sound of exploding metal, as the Damocles satellite re-entered Earth's atmosphere. The flames were quite bright so it must have been close. Still, no worries on where it would hit the ground (Middle of the desert and so forth).

"Looks like someone's big plan just burned up in re-entry." Said the former wrecker before high-fiving the new recruit.

"And for the record," replied Smokescreen. "I studied every one of the wrecker's battles."

"There's hope for you yet…newbie." Smiled Bulkhead.

They were then interrupted by the sound of clapping and whooping. They turned to see Alex standing at the edge of the canal, obviously excited about what he had just witnessed.

"That was Insane!" Shouted the teenager. "Brilliant work you two! Can I take part next time?!"

"Alex." Greeted Bulkhead as he walked over to the boy. "I think you should leave the fighting bit to us."

"Are you kidding?" cut in Smokescreen with a smile on his face. "After what I saw this kid could do yesterday, I say we unleash him onto Megatron and see what happens!"

"Anyway," Bulkhead said with apparent firmness. "How long have you been here?"

"Long enough to see that you guys are just pure awesome!" Alex replied. "I was out for a walk when I saw you guys fighting it out with Silas."

"Huh, I thought you'd be with the ki- Wait a minute," Bulkhead stopped with a frown on his face. "How did you know it was Silas that we were fighting?"

Alex recoiled, cursing himself silently. In a splitsecond he came up with an excuse and replied "Oh, I thought Silas was inside Breakdown giving the orders, as Breakdown's fighting method seemed a bit different."

"And how would you what Breakdowns fighting method looks like?" Bulkhead asked with the frown burrowing deeper into his forehead.

Unfortunately Alex hesitated. "Um…Agent Fowler mentioned it to me when we were talking about fighting maneuvers."

Bulkhead was now suspicious and would have pressed on, but Smokescreen then decided that he was bored with the topic.

"Oh leave the kid alone, Bulk," he interrupted. "Do me a favor, Alex. If Optimus asks you to report on this, could you mention how well I fought and how I was just like him when it came to supporting Bulkhead?"

Alex lightened up immediately, eager to get away from Bulkheads suspicious gaze. "Smokescreen," he said with a small snicker. "I may not know Optimus, but I'm sure he's not one for fictional stories."

Despite his current thoughts Bulkhead had to laugh lightly at this.

Smokescreen on the other hand, was not impressed. "Haha very funny." He retorted sarcastically.

Bulkhead lifted his hand to his ear. "Bulkhead to base," he said. "Any chance of a bridge back?"

There was no reply.

Bulkhead tried again. "Ratchet, you copy?"

Nothing but static.

Bulkhead frowned. "That's strange. Something's interfering with the signal."

Smokescreen tried his comm link, with the same results.

Suddenly Alex's phone started ringing. Upon answering it Ratchet's voice came through loud and clear. "Alex, Where are you?"

"At the canal with Smokescreen and Bulkhead." Alex replied. "Why? What's going on?"

"The satellite." Ratchet explained. "There is a section of it that survived re-entry. It's telemetry indicates that it is going to hit the base!"

…..

"What?!" Alex exclaimed. His alarming tone alarmed Bulkhead. "Alex, What is it?" Bulkhead asked.

Alex pointed a finger to quiet him. "Ratchet, explain." He said quickly.

"When Rafael activated full thruster burn," Ratchet explained. "The satellite was sent into re-entry, causing it to start burning up. It seems that a fragment of it has made it through re-entry and is heading straight for the base."

"Can't we try and shoot it down or something?" Alex inquired.

"We do not have sufficient firepower. The fragment is interfering with the comm signal as well as the ability to lock in groundbridge coordinates, so I cannot contact Optimus."

Alex took a deep breath. "So what do we do?"

"I have had no choice but to abandon the base. Stay right where you are. I do not know how big the blast radius will be."

Alex's mind was in overdrive by that point. This was a major development that hadn't been shown and appeared to have no solution. How the hell had this happen?

Then Alex stopped, as with horror he realized something.

They did have sufficient firepower.

Alex spoke back into his phone. "Leave this to us, Ratchet." He said before immediately ending the call, knowing that Ratchet would try and argue. In a minute he had come up with a plan.

Curse him to hell if he got this wrong.

"Alex, What is going on?!" Bulkhead asked with evident concern. The same concern was etched on Smokescreen's face.

"No time to explain." Alex said as he climbed down into the canal. "Smokescreen, we need to get to base right now."

"Why, what's going on?" Smokescreen asked.

"I'll explain on the way. But right now, I have a chance to save the base from being destroyed." Alex replied with firmness in his voice.

"What?!" Bulkhead exclaimed.

Smokescreen looked down at the teenager. He had only known him for a few days, but the look on Alex's face told him that the kid was being deadly serious.

Despite his judgment, he transformed and opened the passenger door.

"Get in." He said, revving his engines.

…

Smokescreen didn't bother to check speed limits as he and Alex sped towards the base. They even didn't waste time as they passed Ratchet going in the opposite direction, who then skidded to a stop and had begun to follow them.

"You really think you can stop that thing?" Smokescreen asked as they entered the main entrance of the base.

Alex was worried, but confident. "I believe I can." He said.

The race car sped into the base and braked right next to the stairs that led up to the elevator. Alex wasted no time rushing up to it and pushing the button to take him up to the top.

A Few moments later the doors pinged open and he was met by the cold night air once again. Rushing over to the edge he looked up to see the raging fireball falling straight towards him.

Alex planted his feet firmly on the ground. Keeping his eyes on the fragment he put his hands together and started to concentrate.

Inside him the void cells were activated and started to generate power. This power then flowed through Alex's arms and begun to build up between his hands. The energy crackled as the orange orb grew in size and intensity. Alex's body was in absolute pain. He had never dared build up the energy this much because of what Ratchet had said, but he needed to be sure that there was enough power to successfully destroy the oncoming 'missile'. Furthermore, judging by the distance of it, he only had enough time to fire one shot.

Better make it count then.

The energy flowed, growing into a ball half the size of Alex. He was on the verge of collapsing from the pain. Then, in one swift movement, a yell of pain and when the power buildup was too intense to bear, Alex threw the orb straight towards the fragment.

…

The explosion could be seen from Raf's window, lighting the room up completely. Agent Fowler looked out the window.

"What was that?" he asked as the blast dissipated.

…

Bulkhead watched from the canal as the fire disappeared into the atmosphere.

"Nice going, Kid." He thought.

But HOW had he known about Silas?

…

The fragment had basically disintegrated with the force of the background radiation hitting it head on. Alex had felt the blast from where he had been standing.

He had done it! He had saved the base from destruction!

But as he stood panting and struggling to stand upright from the torture he had just endured, that was not the thought that was racing though Alex's mind.

He had prevented time lines from being disrupted.

But in doing so, had he just become part of the story?

Was he initially meant to do this?

Was he part of these certified chain of events?

**To be continued…**


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

**Autobot base…**

The sound of revving engines filled the silo as Smokescreen accompanied by Jack screeched down the entrance corridor. Arcee watched their exit with eyes full of concern.

"Optimus with all due respect," she started as she turned to look up at her leader. "Agent Fowler is out relocating Raf's family because the 'cons discovered where he lives. Meanwhile Smokescreen, in all his wisdom, chooses a vehicle mode with screaming double 38's on the doors, making him an easy target. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't more than concerned about Jack's safety."

"Nonetheless," Optimus replied. "Our new recruit is in need of instruction. I believe that Smokescreen's spark is in the right place, and that he now understands the necessity of protecting humanity."

Suddenly the ground trembled as a small explosion could be heard from down the corridor. They turned round to look in its direction and a few moments later Alex walked round the corner with his walking stick, the front of his hair slightly smoking and face covered in black powder.

Alex looked up at the autobots. "Was standing too close to the wall." He said simply, a mock smile appearing on his face. He quickly limped up the stairs while saying "I need coffee."

Optimus watched as Alex made his way to the small kitchen area located behind the elevator. The teenager seemed agitated ever since he had successfully stopped the Damocles satellite from crashing into the base. He was favoring his uninjured leg again, he noticed.

"Alex," he asked. "Is something wrong?"

Alex's head turned to the Prime. In doing so he set the coffee tin back onto the counter, resulting in a clang of metal against metal.

"I'm fine." Alex spoke a little too quickly. "Just tired. Sleepless night."

Optimus narrowed his optics, which made Alex seriously uncomfortable.

"On second thought." Alex said. "I think I'm more in need of some fresh air. If you'll excuse me…"

Alex walked round to the lift doors which pinged open as he pushed the button. A moment later the lift begun its ascension to the roof.

Optimus began walking towards the bigger elevator. "Optimus, where are you going?" enquired Ratchet. Optimus turned round to face the medic. "I am going to speak with Alex." He answered.

As Optimus moved off, Ratchet turned back to his console. Bulkhead shrugged his shoulders. "I say give the kid some space, he's earned it." A frown then appeared on his face. "Weird how he knew about Silas though."

Arcee who up until that point was in her own thoughts, snapped back into reality upon Bulkhead's last sentence. She turned to the former wrecker. "What did you say?"

"No when me and Smokescreen were fighting Silas, we met Alex at the canal, who referred to the 'con as Silas, not as Breakdown." Bulkhead shrugged his shoulders again. "Probably overheard Agent Fowler when he was briefing us. It's nothing."

But Arcee was thinking that it wasn't nothing. What Bulkhead had just told her, and what Jack had been reporting when overhearing Alex. This wasn't speculation or common knowledge.

She turned to Ratchet. "Ratchet," she asked. "These void particles that Alex was exposed to. Where exactly do you find them?"

Ratchet turned round to face her, raising one eyebrow as he thought for a moment. "Uh…Nowhere. At least, not in our universe. The particles exist in a place called the void. The void is theorized to be the space between dimensions."

"Are you saying that Alex jumped dimensions?!" Bulkhead exclaimed.

"No." replied Ratchet. "That is highly unlikely. The most probable reason is that Alex was exposed to a rip of some kind in the fabric of reality. However it must have been quite a rip as per the amount of void particles in his body. And if there were such a rip on this planet, we would have detected something on the scanners."

Arcee was now in deep thought mode. So, because their scanners hadn't picked up anything, it would stand to reason that Alex was exposed to it off-world.

And there was only one entity that could travel that far….

…..

Alex stood twirling his phone in his hand. The events of the previous night had left him in complete wonder and fear. He had prevented a major event and a possible disrupter to the time lines, but in doing so he may have become part of them. While the thought of him being a hero was really cool, he was no longer sure of anything. Sure, 'Legacy' might be playing out right now, but that wasn't exactly reassuring.

He heard the sound of the lift doors and of giant footsteps walking over to higher ledge Alex was standing on. He then turned to face Optimus.

"I got involved." He stated.

Optimus frowned. "What do you mean?"

Alex took a deep breath. "You agree," he started. "That the possibility of a satellite fragment destroying the base is a big deal, right."

"I suppose so." Optimus agreed.

"Then how come I never heard of it?" Alex asked rhetorically. "Surely that idea is important enough to make it into an episode? And even now, nobody's taking note of what happened. It's as if they are not registering it."

"But isn't that what you wanted to achieve? To preserve the 'storyline?'

Alex looked wide-eyed at the Prime. "Yes," he said. "But does mean I was meant to prevent it? Because of there being no mention of it, there is no need to mention me. Was I meant to be in the background and stop this? And if so, how many other future events that weren't documented am I part of? Am I unofficially part of the story?!"

Alex said the last sentence in exasperation. He was now scared.

A few minutes of silence, during which Alex breathed deeply. Optimus continued to look at the boy.

"Alex," he said. "Why are you so determined to preserve the future?"

Alex was confused. "What?"

"You told me that you had knowledge of events up to the 7th episode of season 3. However that implies that there are more episodes after that. Why are you trying to keep things the way they are, when even you do not know where it is ultimately heading?"

Alex was shocked by this question. Not because he was surprised that Optimus could come up with such a question, but because he had no clue what answer to give him.

"I-" he began. He went silent. Optimus continued to gaze at him, waiting for an answer.

Alex closed his mouth and looked to the horizon. He had to give an answer of some sort. A minute later he came up with something.

"You're right." He finally said. "I don't exactly know where this is all heading, but what I can tell you with certainty, is that planet Earth is safe from the decepticons."

This revelation was met with silence. Optimus looked at Alex with both eyebrows raised. "I'm sorry?"

Alex sighed. "Firstly. Autobots, Decepticons, it's the classic story of good versus evil, and good always triumphs, even the writers of this show understand that. Secondly, I may not know every outcome of every _Transformers _story from the past 30 years, but from what I do know, is that while the human race has always been threatened, they have never actually been destroyed. I don't see _Transformers Prime _as the exception to that. Besides, it's not exactly the best note to leave the show on; that all humans perished at the hands of Megatron."

Alex looked up at Optimus. The Autobot leader was gazing back at him, not sure what to say. No words could amount to the relief that the teenager had provided by revealing that information. Planet Earth was safe.

Optimus finally spoke. "Are you…certain about that?"

Alex could do nothing but shrug his shoulders. And for the second time, he was witness to a rare sight. The sight of a smile forming on Optimus's lips.

…

"And you guys aren't just a bit curious about where Alex came from?" Arcee snapped.

Bumblebee made a few clicks and whirs.

Bulkhead seemed to agree with the scout. "Of course I am, Arcee." He said. "But right now, I'm just glad that he IS here. I mean he did just save our base, didn't he?"

"Arcee," Ratchet intervened. "We lacked sufficient firepower to shoot down the fragment. If it weren't for Alex's ability…"

"Sure, but he refuses to tell us how he came by that ability, or how he knows so much about us, or why he went to talk with Megatron."

"I will agree," Ratchet said. "That Megatron did have some hand in Alex's appearance, but that does not mean that the boy is in league with the Decepticons."

More beeps came from Bumblebee at that statement.

"Bee's right." Bulkhead stated. "I mean he did say he wouldn't have told Megatron where our base was located even beforehand. And if that wasn't true, why would he have gone to the trouble of saving our base then?"

"But he knows things." Arcee persisted, become increasingly frustrated. "How did he know that it was Silas fighting and not Breakdown? That Bulkhead would make a full recovery? How does know of…certain names?!"

The other Autobots knew what Arcee was meaning with that last retort, but they chose not to answer it. However they could not present answers to the other questions.

When she received no reply from her comrades, Arcee scowled. She was about to march off in a silent fury when they were met with the sound of an oncoming racer.

"This is not over." She remarked to the others. "He knows things. He knows things…before we know about them…"

**To be Continued….**

**Author's note (PLEASE READ!): While I will be most certainly continuing this story, I begun work on a new project. It is a crossover so it's experimental, so if possible, please give your opinion towards the idea, and decide whether it's worth following up. Your input would be greatly appreciated!**

** s/9486745/1/Titans-on-the-Run**

**Enjoy! **


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

**Autobot base…**

The metal coil positioned in the center of the target room was on the verge of melting due to its rapidly rising temperature. This was because of the crackling energy bolt that was connected between it and Alex's hands. Despite the fact that he was standing more than 3 meters away from the coil, somehow the orange lightning coming from his palm managed to keep contact with it. He was even able to switch palms while the energy was being expelled. However there was one restraint. Because the energy was being expelled constantly, it maintained a certain intensity; therefore he could not increase the bolt's strength. That though wasn't saying that the energy wasn't powerful enough already.

After a few more dozen seconds Alex killed the connection. The coil though continued to glow red, with the top end of it even beginning to sag downwards. Alex grinned. The idea of him having a 'superpower' had finally started to sink in, and to him it was probably the coolest and most awesome thing in the world. Apart from him being a part of Team Prime, that is. An added bonus being that his leg was making a good recovery. However Alex then became silent for a moment, remembering that his presence on this world was permanent, and that there was no chance of going home.

Or was there?

Had Megatron lied to him? Was it just the case of a very powerful spacebridge being needed? Alex thought about this and sighed. Even if there was a way back to his world he would need the decepticons to pull it off.

And Megatron had made it quite clear that he was not interested in such an endeavor.

Alex grabbed his jacket on the nearby bench and headed back to the main part of the silo. He wasn't exactly happy when Agent Fowler forbade him from taking coffee that had the agent's name on the tin, but Raf had kindly brought a few satchels from home just for Alex.

Intending to now enjoy one of these satchels, Alex walked into the main hangar to discover smiles etched on a few of the autobots faces.

"What's up?" he asked.

"Optimus received a message from an Autobot called Alpha Trion via the star sabre." Ratchet replied in a cheery mood.

Alpha/Omega.

"What was the message?" Alex asked with a sense of interest.

"That with the use of devices called the omega keys, we will be able to restore Cybertron."

"Wow." Alex remarked. "So, does that mean you will be leaving?"

"Hopefully soon." Ratchet said as he went back to his welding.

"Yeah, soon." Bulkhead said quietly. Everyone could see that the big guy was not happy about the prospect of leaving Miko behind.

"Cheer up, Bulkhead." Alex said as he ascended the stairs. "I'm sure you'll be able to visit Miko from time to time."

"Jack as well." Said Arcee sadly. Bumblebee then also beeped his agreement when thinking about Rafael.

Arcee watched as Alex made his beverage. She had been surprised when Optimus had returned from his chat with Alex somehow in a happier and more confident mood. This raised the question of what Alex had told him while they had been up on the roof, adding more suspicion and distrust to Arcee's view of Alex. According to Jack's field reports the teenager had merely submersed himself in learning cybertronian code with Optimus and blasting holes in the walls of his target room, only taking time to interact with Raf and Miko with whom he had built what could be considered a friendship with them. However that didn't change anything.

After making his coffee Alex settled onto the couch and turned the TV on. On it was the news headline that South Western Australia was under huge rainfall.

"_No biggie._" Alex thought. "_They've been through worse._"

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and relaxed.

"_Back to Cybertron." _ He thought absent-mindedly.

"_Back to Cybertron…"_

Suddenly Alex opened his eyes wide and sat upright as he realized something.

"Darkest hour!" he exclaimed.

His sudden outburst caught the attention of everyone in the room.

He looked at the autobots, desperately thinking of an excuse.

"Uh…the news. Australia's floods." He stammered. "Saying that it's their darkest hour. Heh, they always make it sound so dramatic."

Ratchet shook his head and returned to his welding, Optimus lightly frowned at Alex before also returning to his work of decrypting coordinates, and the rest of the autobots shrugged and went back to their own conversations or duties.

Alex remained sitting upright. How had he been so blind?! If he was in the middle of 'alpha/omega,' that meant he was only 3 episodes away from season 2's finale.

The destruction of the Autobot base.

Alex was now scared. Right now he had no idea of what he could do when that happened or where he'd be. The first choice would be to escape with one of the autobots, but that was not an option for him. Jack and Arcee would meet up with Ultra Magnus, Bumblebee, Raf and Ratchet would work together at the Harbinger, and Optimus and Smokescreen…

On that particular note Alex was currently praying to God that his presence in _Transformers Prime _had not tampered with timelines to such an extent that that particular outcome was at risk. That was the act that would support the series transition phase from season 2 to season 3, and more importantly, the add-on of the title _Beast Hunters. _

And thinking of it now, Alex was fearful of what could be said in the first scene of episode 26. Megatron would no doubt take pride in mentioning Alex's apparent failure to help the autobots, and Arcee would no doubt in turn realize and explain how Alex knew what knew, in which case his cover with the Autobots and Decepticons would be blown, and there was no doubt in Alex's mind that both factions would then come looking for him in order to exploit him. The fact that he actually had a means to defend himself from such was not helping.

The possibility of him explaining himself to the Autobots before the season finale was also out, as by doing that would almost certainly jeopardize future events and possibly kill any chance he had of escaping the destruction and reuniting with any of the autobots.

There was the option of being with Agent Fowler or June Darby during the destruction, but that would be risky due to it looking to suspicious to the autobots and the prospect of eventually meeting up with them after them realizing that he could have prevented the base's destruction was not appealing in the least. Despite this, this option seemed to be the only one available.

Alex sat shivering. He was scared. But thankfully he had time to think, as he had two more episodes before he would have to take action.

In any event however, he would have to be ready to leave the base at any given moment. In other words, he would need to be ready to disappear...

But for now, he would remain calm and carry on, and continue blasting holes in the walls and learning cybertronian code with Optimus; as it was the only thing he could do.

But where the hell would he go?

….

**The next evening…**

The base was soaked. Starsceam's visit had also left a massive hole in the vault that had been storing the omega keys. After shutting the sprinklers off the autobots had set about drying off all of Ratchet's precious equipment. Meanwhile Bulkhead and Ratchet had returned through the groundbridge along with Optimus, who was not in the best of moods. The autobots had cringed when their leader had cried out "NO!" after failing to apprehend the rogue decepticon. It was a side of Optimus they never truly saw.

Alex on the other hand, was in a much better mood than yesterday. He had come to the decision that he would leave the base of his own accord. Pretend to go out for a walk and then disappear without a trace. He had already packed a bag with supplies and knew that when Optimus cooled down he would assist Alex if needs be, provided that Alex give sufficient reason. Now though, as he tried to dry himself off in his quarters, he would just act normal, maybe even try and up the mood of the place.

….

"Arcee, why didn't you close the groundbridge faster?" Ratchet snapped at the two-wheeler.

"In case you hadn't noticed," snapped Arcee back. "But Starscream was at hyperspeed!"

"Enough." Optimus intervened. After half an hour back at base he had regained his composure and set about repairing the damage to the base. "While there are many things to discuss concerning the loss of the Omega keys, I recommend we wait until tomorrow, as many of us are in need of a recharge."

The autobots were saddened, and they had every right to be considering that they had lost their opportunity to restore their home planet. Alex saw their looks of disappointment as he stood by the kitchen counter preparing yet another cup of coffee and thought about attempting to lift their spirits.

"Oh, chin up." He said. "You've been through worse, and I have every confidence in you eventually returning home."

"Easier said than done." Murmured Bulkhead as he looked to the floor.

"Besides, we don't know yet what Starscream's gonna do with the keys." Smokescreen added. "For all we know he could hand them straight back to Megatron."

"Oh I wouldn't worry too much." Alex said brightly as he stirred in his sugar. "Megatron doesn't seem capable of keeping his forces in check, nor has Starscream ever proven to be completely loyal to his command." He laughed. "I don't think Megatron even likes half of the 'cons on his ship. I bet he wasn't quick about releasing Knock Out from the wall after Smokescreen trapped him there when escaping." He giggled at that funny scene of Megatron and Dreadwing walking past the astonished doctor without a second glance at his predicament. He took a sip of his coffee without noticing that the room had gone silent.

"Alex." Came Smokescreens voice from behind Alex.

"Yes, Smokescreen?" Alex asked before taking another sip, back still turned to the Autobots.

"I never told anyone about Knock Out." Smokescreen said slowly. "So how would you know he got stuck in the wall?"

The coffee mug slipped from his fingers and hit the floor, liquid spilling all over the floor.

Wide eyed, he realized what just happened and what he had just accidently revealed. "Scrap." He silently cursed.

Turning slowly round to face the autobots, he was greeted by the frowns on all of their faces as they stared at him.

"Uhh...didn't you…tell us?" He smiled awkwardly.

While all the autobots were shocked at the fact that Alex knew something that hadn't actually been disclosed with him, there was one Autobot that it affected the most.

In a single moment, that failed excuse, the sudden revelation of information, the anger over the loss of the Omega keys and the amount of previous suspicion and anger, combined to form one blow that caused Arcee to snap. With her arm shifting into her blaster she pointed it at Alex. "Who are you." She said slowly.

"Arcee…" Optimus stepped forward.

The weapon started to glow as Arcee charged it, forcing Alex to take a step back.

"Tell us who you are right now or I will shoot you." She said…

**To be continued…**


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

**Autobot base…**

The room was silent. Nobody moved. Arcee kept her weapon trained on Alex. A look of determination and anger in her eyes.

"Arcee, lower your weapon now." Optimus tried to order.

"Arcee, be reasonable." Ratchet tried.

"He shows up, gets shot at by Megatron, goes back to have a chat with him, and comes back unscathed with a newfound ability." Arcee said slowly. "And he thinks it's okay to not tell us who or what he is. I've every reason."

"I know who he is." Optimus said.

Arcee glanced at her leader. "I'm sorry, Optimus." she said turning back to Alex. "I'll ask again." She said. "Who are you."

While this had been going on Alex's mind had been in overdrive figuring out how to handle this. He gulped. "I can't tell you."

"And why not?"

Alex was silent.

"Let me tell you what I think." Arcee said. "I think you're some sort of decepticon spy."

"Arcee, that's ridiculous." Ratchet exclaimed.

"He's human. Why would he work with the cons?" Bulkhead argued.

"You have a better explanation Bulk?" Arcee said charging her weapon.

Alex inhaled. "Arcee," he said. "I am not your enemy."

Arcee didn't move. "Then prove it." She snarled.

Optimus watched this unfold. He was getting ready to stand in front of Alex if needs be, but he was uncertain if he could truly protect him from Arcee's anger.

Alex looked to the two-wheeler. He felt sorry for her. But at the same time feared her. He was either going to have to tell them something or Arcee would end up shooting him. Maybe this was it. Maybe the reason for there being no record of him in the show was because his killing took place off the record.

But it didn't have to be. He now had a chance to escape to the oncoming destruction of episode 26. He had a plan. And God save his soul if it didn't work. "_I'm sorry, everyone." _He thought.

He turned to look up at Optimus. The prime was still uncertain of what to do. But despite his lack of understanding, the look in the teenager's eyes told him that he was about to do something he would prefer not to, but it would help save his life. The prime tensed up and without much hesitation, lightly nodded to the human below. The other autobots were still waiting for Alex's response. Alex looked to the floor.

"Well?" Arcee muttered.

Alex then looked up and stared at Arcee right in the eyes. "Arcee, what's the time?"

Arcee frowned. "What?"

A frown now started to appear on Alex's face. "What, is, the time?"

Arcee cocked her head towards Ratchet. "Ratchet?"

The medic glanced at his computer. "11:30pm."

"Why?" asked Arcee.

A frown still on his face Alex inhaled deeply. "You might want to go check up on Jack."

Arcee kept her weapon up. She was confused by this statement. She opened her mouth to speak but Alex beat her to it. He turned to Bulkhead and Bumblebee.

"Actually, That goes to all three of you." He said quietly. "You might want to check on the kids."

"Wha-" started Bulkhead.

"You might want to go now." Alex interrupted. A slight touch of menace in his voice.

Looks of confusion and fear appeared on the three guardians faces. "What do you mean?"

"Just to make sure that they're all okay." Alex said with a bit more menace. The room fell silent once again.

Arcee lowered her weapon. A look of fear now evident. "What have you done?" she said slowly.

Alex bowed his head a bit but still maintained eye contact with the soldier.

"Like I said, Arcee." He said slowly. "I know things. Quite a lot of things. But while I may know quite a lot of things, I do not know what's going to happen to Jack, Miko and Raf within the next. Ten. Minutes."

This cold statement was met by a horrific silence as the thought of their human friends being in imminent danger rushed through the autobots minds.

Bumblebee was the first to react. Transforming he shot out of the base and out into the desert, determined to find Raf before someone else did. Bulkhead immediately followed, but not before giving Alex a look of anger and shock. He would make sure no harm would befall Miko. Arcee stared at Alex before turning to Smokescreen. "Guard him!" she shouted before transforming and following her comrades out through the exit corridor. Smokescreen looked at Alex, a frown on his face as Alex took a deep breath.

However he watched as Alex ran towards the couch area. "Hey! Where do think you're going?" he shouted as he drew his weapons.

Alex wasn't listening. He reached the couch and grabbed a black backpack from behind it, slinging it onto his back and clipping it secure. He then moved to his work station and grabbed his phone. Ignoring Smokescreens guns pointed at him he looked up at Optimus, a look of exasperation on his face. The prime had watched this unfold in silence and had kept his eyes locked onto the teenager.

"Optimus," Alex said quickly. "I need your help."

The prime didn't move. After a short silence that agitated Alex he spoke.

"Are the children safe?" he asked slowly.

"Of course they are!" Alex shouted in anger and desperation.

"But what you just said-" Ratchet started.

Alex looked at the medic and Smokescreen before turning back to Optimus.

"Please." He pleaded.

Optimus didn't like where this was going, but he knew Alex to not act without reason.

He turned to his fellow autobots. "Leave us." He said.

Ratchet was shocked. Smokescreen included. "Optimus!"

"I need to be alone with Alex." Optimus said firmly. "Now."

Ratchet and Smokescreen looked at each other. They were amazed at their leader's behavior. But they knew to trust Optimus's judgment. Reluctantly they headed down the corridor out of hearing range.

Optimus turned back to the boy. "Alex, what is going on?"

"Optimus, my trick won't last long. And when Arcee comes back there's gonna be hell to pay."

"Perhaps." Optimus agreed. "But why do you have luggage with you?"

"I need you to send me somewhere." Alex replied.

Optimus frowned. "Why? Surely I can protect you?"

"It's not that." Alex gritted his teeth. He was going to have to be careful.

"Optimus, there is… an event coming." He said. "An event which will have a major effect on Team Prime."

"What is this event?" Optimus asked with concern.

"I can only tell you that it's a big one. You see we are close to the season finale. This event will be part of how we move onto the next season. It is essential that it happens as it should, otherwise it could…"

Alex took a deep breath.

"It could damage the outcome so badly that the decepticons could end up destroying Earth."

Optimus reveled. This was now evidently serious. "You see your presence here being a threat to the desired outcome."

"It is." Alex persisted. "That's why I need you to bridge me out right now before the others come back. And when I'm gone, you need to erase the groundbridge history so that no-one but you can know where I've travelled to."

"Where do you want me to bridge you to?"

Alex told him.

Optimus was surprised. "Why there?"

"Because I know that you guys will eventually go back there. When the time is right and when I know what my next move is."

Optimus looked at Alex. He knew that this boy was important to their survival and success, but he had to make sure for the others sake.

"What effect is this event going to have on Team Prime?" he asked.

Alex twitched. He was running out of time fast but he knew he had to give Optimus something. "If it goes according to plan," he said. "It will allow the war to enter into its final stage."

This prospect of coming peace appealed to Optimus. He would have a difficult time explaining his actions to the others, but he had faith in Alex.

"Do you have sufficient supplies?" he asked.

"Yes." Alex replied.

Optimus then inhaled and turned towards the monitors. Tapping a few keys he turned and threw the groundbridge lever. It had an immediate effect as the groundbridge surged into life. He turned back to Alex.

Alex stood up straight. "Thank you." He said. He then darted towards the stairs and within a moment he was running across the main silo towards the green portal.

"Alex." Optimus called out. Alex skidded to a stop and looked up at him.

Optimus walked over to him and kneeled down to get closer. He looked Alex straight in the eye.

"While I may be willing to assist you in any way I can, I do not condone keeping secrets from my team."

"_Hypocrite." _Thought Alex, but said nothing.

"I am helping you now," continued Optimus. "But upon you returning to this base you will attempt to provide an adequate explanation to the others about your departure. Please promise me this."

"_If only he knew." _Thought Alex again, but he replied "I promise."

Optimus nodded. He then stood up straight and looked down at Alex.

"Until we meet again, Alex Matthews." He said.

Alex nodded. He turned and faced the swirling green vortex. He started to run. A moment later he was gone.

Optimus gazed at the groundbridge before turning around to the controls. A minute later the groundbridge powered down. He then tapped in a few more commands and upon those commands the coordinates history of the groundbridge were deleted.

Optimus then turned on his comm link. "Autobots," he stated. "Return to base."

"What about the kids?!" came Bulkhead's voice.

"The children are in no danger." Optimus replied. "There is no need for alarm."

"How do you know?" asked Arcee.

"Alex told me so."

There was a moment of silence. Then Arcee snapped. "Then why would he tell us that?"

Optimus kept quiet.

"Optimus, please tell me Smokescreen is still guarding Alex." Said Arcee slowly.

Optimus, as always, remained calm.

"Alex has…departed."

**To be continued…**

**Authors note (PLEASE READ!):**** Okay people, I have bad news. This may be the last chapter for a while (And I know I am very evil and monstrous to leave you on this cliffhanger :D ). If the next chapter is not posted before the 6****th**** of August, then I'm afraid you can only expect one by the end of August, as I doubt I will be able to write while I am travelling to the US of A to the city of 'Jasper.' Sorry.**

**Just to note, I will be posting the next chapter of my other story shortly to wrap that one off as well for the time being.**

**Again, I apologize for my evilness.**

**Enjoy! **


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

**Autobot base…**

"AND YOU HELPED HIM BRIDGE OUT OF HERE?!" roared Arcee.

The three guardians had hastily returned back to base after Optimus had reported that Alex had 'departed.' Ratchet and Smokescreen, upon returning to the main silo, had not dared to say anything despite their shock at Optimus's actions. However the same could not be said for the other three autobots, Arcee and Bulkhead in particular.

"He needed to go somewhere." Optimus said calmly to the two-wheeler.

Arcee took a step back and threw up her arms. "Oh, and that was okay then?! Optimus, he indirectly threatened the kid's lives."

"He did no such thing." Optimus replied. "I was given Alex's assurance after you left that the children were in no danger whatsoever. In response to your accusation earlier, I can assure you that Alex is not in league with the decepticons."

"And how exactly can you be sure of that?" Bulkhead snapped.

"Foremost, when I first encountered Alex, he was being attacked by Megatron. Secondly, if Alex were in league with the opposition, he wouldn't have wasted time in revealing the location of our base to Megatron. Finally, it is my understanding that Alex has had to be very careful in his actions over the past period. Megatron apparently went to great lengths to exploit the knowledge he carries, knowledge which will benefit us in the near future."

Bumblebee made a few beeps and whirs. Optimus looked at the scout.

"That is true, Bumblebee." He said. "But upon Alex's return to the base he has promised to provide a full explanation as to who he is. I have his word on that."

"That is if he ever returns." Arcee interjected. She looked to her leader. "So what do we do now?"

"We continue with our objectives as usual." Optimus replied. "As far as we know, Starscream is in possession of the omega keys. The fate of Cybertron's resoration now lies with him."

And that was that.

But to Arcee it wasn't. She was furious that Optimus had helped Alex escape from the base. She couldn't help but think he was putting the entire team at risk. The other autobots were returning to their attentions to their duties in hand, considering that while Alex was indeed a cause for concern, the kids had been alright and there was no damage done by his departure. However there was a growing distrust between them and their leader, but they all kept this to themselves.

Little did they know how Optimus's secrecy extended way past Alex's existence.

Arcee thought deeply as she slipped into recharge. Alex had known something that hadn't been disclosed.

Was he some sort of psychic?

Did he know the future?

Either way, it didn't matter. If Alex wasn't able to provide an explanation when they met up next, Arcee had every impulse and reason to shoot him then.

For the safety of Jack and the others.

**Meanwhile…**

Alex huddled for warmth. He had been sitting in the dark for a while now and he was feeling fed up with himself. How clumsy he had been to mention Knock Out's predicament out loud. He had presumed that Smokescreen had told everybody about that, considering his character. But no, he had decided to keep it to himself.

He wasn't happy to spend time in this place, but he knew that it was strategically viable. The autobots would eventually come here, and he would be able to hitch a ride with them out of here. But it wasn't that simple. He couldn't reveal his face to them immediately, for he knew he wouldn't have backup to deal with Arcee and the other guardians. He was certain that even with his power, he would have difficulty defending himself from them.

This chain of events was not unfolding in his favor.

He needed to come up with a plan.

On the plus side he had plenty of time now to come up with one.

But there was another factor to consider.

Megatron.

He settled back on the cold uncomfortable floor. There was now some productive thinking to be done now…

**The next day in Jasper…**

"What do think happened to Alex?" asked Raf sitting on the school steps.

"Agent Fowler said that he had been re-assigned somewhere else." Replied Jack next to him, a slight accusative tone in his voice.

"You don't believe that do you." Said Miko as she stood on the ledge.

Jack just looked at her.

The three of them had been waiting outside the school for an hour and a half now and there had been no sign of the autobots. They had phoned base to see what was happening but they had been cut off by Ratchet, much to Miko's annoyance. The kids had been feeling left out of Autobot action this whole week and they were starting to feel fed up. And this whole thing with Alex's disappearance only added to it.

"He knew things." Said Jack. "Things which he couldn't possibly have known."

"What sort of things?" asked Raf.

"When Bulkhead got hurt, he sounded as if he knew Bulkhead was going to get better."

"Hey!" exclaimed Miko. "Bulk was always going to get better."

"I know, Miko." Said Jack. "But Alex was talking as if he knew it for sure."

"Are you saying…" begun Raf. "He knew the future?"

Jack said nothing.

"Oh please!" Miko cut in. "That's a stupid idea. Nobody knows the future." She hopped off her wall. "Can we get back to calling our bots for pickup?"

Jack and Raf exchanged glances. Jack opened his mouth to say something but was then interrupted by the roar of an approaching engine.

"Ah! At last!" Miko said as she grabbed her bag from the steps. The three kids walked down to the pavement with looks of anticipation and relief on their faces.

The looks turned to horror as a red exotic with yellow decals came screaming round the corner towards them. Screeching to a halt and transforming in front of them they were greeted by the burning red optics of Knock Out.

"Ah. Just who I was looking for." He sneered as he advanced towards them…

**Cybertron…**

"Perhaps we should oblige your pets, Optimus…" taunted Megatron after the kids had made their standing clear.

It was a stand-off like no other. Autobots on one side, holding the devices capable of restoring their home planet. Optimus and Megatron in the middle conversing, and the three decepticons on the other side, holding their three human captives in air tight containers. They were valiantly attempting to put on brave faces, but they were to no avail. Optimus had already made his mind up.

"If my decision dooms the future of the Autobot cause, so be it. But I will never forsake our human allies." He stated. He swung his arms and with almighty slicing sound he buried the star sabre into the ground in front of him. He took several steps back to be with his team. They were all looking at him.

Arcee groaned. She hit the chest unit of the Apex armor and a second later it had minimized itself back into her hand. She flung it and it landed at Megatron's feet. He raised an eyebrow expectantly. A moment later the rest of the Iacon relics landed at his feet. The humans bowed their heads in sadness.

Megatron then laughed. "Well, this has certainly turned in the decepticons favor." He chuckled. "I wonder if leaving the specimen alone all this time was a wise move."

"Specimen?" frowned Optimus.

"The human you originally rescued from me. Tell me, did he actually tell you anything useful? Not that any of it would be relevant."

"Alex?" Arcee asked. "What does this have to with him?"

Megatron raised both his eyebrows in surprise. He looked at the prime. "Did you even know what knowledge he carried?"

Optimus said nothing. However looks of confusion had appeared on all of the other autobots faces. Megatron saw this and realized.

"You knew, and you didn't inform your own team?!" He started laughing. "Oh, my dear Optimus! Always so keen to preserve the order of battle!"

"Optimus, what is so special about Alex?" pressed Arcee.

Optimus opened his mouth to speak but Megatron beat him to it.

"The human you were providing sanctuary comes from another reality." He explained with a certain triumph. "A reality whose inhabitants are aware of our conflict and have knowledge of how it will finally end. I succeeded in bringing here in the hope of exploiting his knowledge. A success only rivaled by its pointlessness, as the fact that by involving him I apparently altered the course of the future. But now, it seems the effort has paid off." Megatron faltered for a moment. "I will admit, I was unable to terminate him when he bridged aboard my ship, this being due to his newfound 'ability,' but nevertheless…" Megatron gave the grin to end all grins. "The odds are now in my favor, Optimus."

Optimus remained quiet, staring daggers at his opponent.

But with his team, the first penny had dropped. They were looking at each other in complete shock, amazed at how Optimus had kept this from them. Feelings of distrust and betrayal raked through their bodies. For the kids, it was just plain surprising, but that surprise was currently being overshadowed by their sense of hopelessness.

Arcee turned to her comrades. "That's how he knew everything. How Bulkhead would eventually recover and about Smokescreen's encounter with Knock Out. He knew what was going to happen ever since he arrived at base." The other Autobots nodded in agreement.

That was when on the other side of the standoff, the second penny dropped.

The grin vanished immediately from Megatron's face. "What?" he whispered.

Everyone looked at him. Hidden behind the mask, a small grin started to appear on Optimus's face.

Megatron's optics grew wider and wider at the realization of what Alex had done. "He…lied…to me." He hissed.

"That's why he went to see you." Arcee said, working out the situation. "In order to protect himself, he told you that he couldn't help you, that his information was worthless to you." She paused. "And you bought it."

Suddenly Smokescreen started to giggle quietly. When everybody turned to look at him, he raised both eyebrows while looking at Megatron.

"Sorry if I find it funny that the great and powerful Megatron was duped by a human teenager." He turned to his fellow autobots and shrugged again. "Gotta give the kid some credit for that."

Arcee still wasn't convinced though. She still felt betrayed by Optimus and angry at Alex for manipulating them all. The same went for the other two guardians.

There was not a force in the universe currently that could match Lord Megatron's building anger. In unparalleled anger and with a roar of fury he powered up his cannon and swung it to aim at the container containing Rafael. The boy immediately flinched and braced himself for the imminent shot. To this, a high pitch of distress erupted from Bumblebee and all the autobots braced themselves to charge forward.

Megatron's other hand went up to stop them, while his mind was in overdrive thinking how he could maintain control of the situation. He needed to stay on priority.

"I am well aware how you autobots and particularly the scout will react if I shot the young one." He lowered his weapon and continued "And there is still an exchange to take place." He calculated frown reappeared. "And be assured that when I rule Cybertron, I will make a personal trip to Earth to hunt down the specimen for his deception."

Smokescreen snickered again. "Deceived decepticons." He retorted. "That's new."

Megatron did not appreciate the last remark. "And now if you please, the Omega keys." He said as Knock Out stepped forward with Miko's container in hand.

"You first, big boy." Taunted the enemy doctor as he pointed a finger at Bulkhead.

Optimus remained calm this whole time. He knew he should fear for Alex's life if it came to Megatron hunting him, but the boy had shown that he was capable of controlling his power. But that was not the main concern currently. The first priority now was to secure the children's safety.

He turned to Bulkhead and nodded to him. Bulkhead returned the nod and walked over to Knock Out and his charge…

**Darkmount, Nevada…**

Megatron looked across the valley from his throne room. The grey clouds had blotted out any sunshine and the smoke coming from the still smoldering Autobot base was contributing. Jasper had also been reduced to rubble, as Starscream and his armada had made sure of that. The humans had just staged an attack on his fortress and with a single shot of the new fusion cannons positioned atop the tower, he had cleared the enemy from the battlefield. He had created New Kaon, and it stood tall and proud. Oh yes, he could conquer this world. To make up for Optimus Prime's 'treachery.'

But despite all of this, Megatron was not happy. Apart from the fact that no bodies had been recovered from the wreckage of the base, which stood to reason that the autobots had bridged out before the destruction had begun, he had been deceived. The specimen had succeeded in leading him to believe that he was of no value to the decepticon cause. And now because of his lies Megatron now feared for the damage the boy could do. He could choose to help the autobots, or to continue hiding. Megatron thought the latter as because of the revelations that had just taken place, he was doubtful that the autobots would be comfortable in his presence, especially since Optimus had kept secrets from them as well, on the specimen's request.

The boy was smart. Megatron realized that now. He had detailed of the future and he was effectively using it to his advantage. However while he had been able to position himself brilliantly, his secret was now out. If he wanted the future to remain confidential, he would keep quiet to the autobots. Long enough for Megatron to locate him.

"Soundwave." He ordered through his comm link. "Maintain global surveillance for the specimen's GPS signal. If detected, report it to me immediately." Megatron hadn't been exaggerating. If located, he would personally hunt the specimen down, have a small chat with him, and then kill him.

In the meantime, the hunt for the autobots was on.

**To be continued…**

**Author's note: Okay, I lied. Here's the next chapter. Hope you enjoy it. But seriously now, possibly apart from the next chapter for 'Titans on the Run,' I won't be back till after the 20****th**** of August. In the meantime, I am entirely open for ideas from you guys, so please don't hesitate to send me some.**

**Look out America! Here I come!**

**SJSpilz3**


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

**The **_**Harbinger**_**…**

The kids were lost in the embrace of June Darby's arms while Agent Fowler looked on with concern. It had been quite the relief for him and June when they heard the voice of Ratchet on the phone earlier but they were still worried over the children's safety. However this was alleviated after arriving at the abandoned decepticon warship and meeting up with the present members of Team Prime. The autobots also watched this reunion unfold, glad to see their human charges and friends safe. However there was great tension between them due to the fact that while they were in the presence of a new arrival and ally, there were two autobots still missing in action.

After a brief silence Arcee said "The only signals Ultra Magnus managed to isolate are standing right here."

"Maybe a scanner's faulty…" commented Wheeljack.

"So the kids are accounted for." Said Bulkhead.

"Smokescreen bridged out unaccompanied, only Optimus knows where." Ratchet explained. "And Optimus remained behind…to destroy the groundbridge to," He looked down. "Ensure that everyone else…made it to safety."

"I…watched the base go down. No one or thing walked out of there." Fowler said. "Not that we could see." Confirmed June as she and the kids stepped up behind him to face the autobots. Fowler continued. "Even if Prime survived, I'm not sure we can afford to wait for him to show up. Not with Megatron holding our planet hostage, from his high and mighty perch of Darkmount."

"I would be inclined to agree with the native life form." Ultra Magnus said stepping forward. "Megatron must be stopped, with or without Optimus Prime."

Jack looked to Arcee. She had become quite still while the conversation had progressed.

"Arcee, are you okay?" he asked.

She looked down at her partner. A frown on her face.

"He lied to us." She said.

"Arcee-" Bulkhead began.

"He lied to us, Bulkhead!" She exclaimed. "Why?! Why would Optimus do that to us?"

"Optimus obviously had his reasons for concealing Alex." Ratchet joined. "While I agree that it seems not the most effective strategy-"

"Effective strategy?!" fumed Arcee. "He could've told us everything! We could've ended this war weeks ago!"

"Soldier, to what are you referring to?" enquired Ultra Magnus, confused of what his comrades were arguing about.

"And yet Optimus chose not to." Ratchet persisted, ignoring the commander. "It stands to reason that Alex told Optimus something that made him want to continue fighting without Alex's knowledge or assistance."

"Can someone explain to me-" began Ultra Magnus.

"But what about when he threatened the kids?" continued Arcee.

"That was obviously just a ploy to give him time to leave the base," Ratchet replied. "Considering how you reacted towards him."

"Or perhaps it was a warning too early, considering what happened on Cybertron."

Bumblebee emitted some clicks and whirs to agree with Arcee.

During this time Jack had gone quiet, deep in thought. There was something nagging him in the back of his mind. What had Alex said to them when they first met?

Suddenly it struck him. He clicked his fingers. "That's it." He said.

Everyone looked to him. "What?" asked Arcee.

"It wasn't just to get away from you, Arcee." Said Jack. "But to escape before the base was destroyed by the 'cons after we came back from Cybertron."

Bulkhead nodded. "It figures, saving his own skin. But why wouldn't he have just stayed, given us some sort of explanation and then left with one of us when the base was destroyed?"

"You think he would've given us an explanation?" asked Arcee sarcastically.

"Agreed." Said Ratchet. "But it still doesn't explain why Optimus would avoid asking Alex about future events."

"Would someone-" The frown on Magnus's face was deepening.

"Like you said, he obviously said something that Optimus really liked."

However Jack wasn't finished. "When we first met Alex, he told us to act like he didn't exist, like he was just a shadow."

"Yeah, so?" asked Arcee.

"So, when it came to situations, he didn't get involved at all. He would always disappear or be back at base."

"So he's a coward then?"

Bulkhead scoffed. "He goes to see Megatron by his own choice and you're calling him a coward?"

"Guys, think about it." Jack continued. "He tells Optimus something he likes, and then keeps away from all the action." He paused. "He and Optimus wanted to keep the future as it was."

Ratchet took this into account. Suddenly with him it also clicked. "They wanted to preserve Alex's version of the future…because Optimus knew it would be in our best interests."

Now it was Raf's turn to have the realization. "And he went to Megatron to say that it wouldn't happen as he knew it, because he knew Megatron would try and change it if he didn't like it."

"Raf's right." Said Jack. "By doing what he did, he was helping us and protecting himself."

Arcee was amazed at this last reasoning. "Helping us?! After what just happened to us, Jack?! Obviously he wasn't doing a good job at that looking at how we've ended up! And I doubt we will ever see him again because only Optimus knows where he went, and in case you hadn't noticed but Optimus isn't here!"

Bulkheads shoulders sagged. "Arcee's right." He said. "Plus there's no telling if this is the future that Alex knows, for all we know right now Optimus might not be alive."

"We cannot think like that, Bulkhead." Said Ratchet. "But I'm afraid Arcee may be correct in saying that we may never see Alex again."

"ENOUGH!" shouted Ultra Magnus. Everyone turned to him. He looked around at the autobots faces. "If someone could explain to me what you are exactly arguing about? Who is this Alex you speak of?"

"Commander," began Ratchet. "I'm sure you are highly confused about all this, and believe when I say that it will take some time to explain it all. Rest assured we will provide you a through explanation at some point in the near future. But right now, you need not concern yourself over it." He attempted to change the subject. "You momentarily spoke of stopping Megatron."

Ultra Magnus paused. He was an autobot of protocol, and did not enjoy it when he was left in the dark about issues affecting his team. He made a mental note that if upon encountering this 'Alex,' he would be sure no to grant him any courtesy, considering how the majority of the other autobots felt towards him.

This was certainly the case with Bulkhead, Bumblebee and Arcee. Alex had indirectly threatened their charges lives and had intentionally kept valuable information from them that concerned their overall safety. There would be many questions to be answered if they ever saw him again.

Wheeljack on the other hand was not sure what to think. He had only met this Alex once and had not thought much of him. To him, there was more to the story than just what the autobots were currently deducing. But if the kid knew that his beloved Jackhammer would end up on the scrapheap, then he wouldn't mind having a chat with him himself.

Ratchet was concerned, as always. He trusted Optimus and his decisions. He did feel slightly betrayed for not being informed, but he chose to ignore it and concentrate on the job in hand.

"Very well." Said Magnus finally. "As I was saying, we must do everything in our power to stop Megatron, but we will need to be smart about it…"

From his hiding place behind a boulder, Alex took all what had been said into account. Thankful that the storyline was still on course, he took a deep breath. He had been waiting at the _Harbinger_ for the autobots to arrive and during that time he had formulated his plan. It was just now a case of keeping out of sight until he could initiate it. It would require timing, but luckily he was in the position to monitor the situation well.

But soon, he would put on a show.

And his audience would be autobot, decepticon and human combined.

**To be continued…**

**Authors note: HELLO! I'M BACK! AMERICA WAS FANTASTIC! YOU GUYS OVER THERE ARE AWESOME! We now continue our journey, and I hope you enjoy this prologue to a main event!**

**SJSpilz3**


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

**The **_**Harbinger**_**…**

They didn't have time to waste. Ratchet and Rafael were working furiously to grab any equipment that they wanted to take with while Jack and Miko patiently waited for them to finish.

Suddenly a voice rang through the comm link on the central panel. "Ratchet, come in." said Ultra Magnus. "What's you status?"

"Just packing up the final essentials, Commander." Reported the medic. "We need to make sure that we have all that we need as there will probably be no possibility of returning to this ship. As soon as we have everything you can expect our bridging to Hangar E."

"Understood." Said the commander. "We await your arrival." He signed off, allowing Ratchet to return to his packing. Raf looked up from rolling up some cables. "Do you think we'll need those auxiliary switches?" he pointed to the groundbridge control panel at some funny looking knobs.

Ratchet glanced at the panel before back at the young boy, surprised that the child would be able to remind him of the very important devices required for the construction of a new groundbridge at the new base.

"Uh…of course." He replied. "I was just about to detach them."

Raf nodded and went back to his cables. Jack and Miko shared a small grin at Ratchet's mannerisms.

They had been beyond relief when Magnus had reported Optimus Prime's return during the battle of Darkmount. Worry and tension were too weak words to describe how they felt during those last few hours as the Autobots fought to infiltrate the decepticon citadel. At one point their hearts almost stopped beating upon overhearing on the comm link Ultra Magnus telling Megatron he wouldn't say where Optimus could be found, but that was soon over when he retold the Prime's impressive entrance. Currently, the rest of Team Prime was waiting along with their leader at an undisclosed military base in the desert, waiting for Ratchet and the kids to travel there from the _Harbinger_.

10 minutes later, they were ready.

"Shame about this place." Said Miko. "Would have made a great secret hideout."

"Not so secret anymore, Miko." Explained Ratchet. "The decepticons have probably deduced by now that we were operating here due to the fact that we hacked their communications system with their own technology."

"That's why we're taking all this stuff now in case they show up here." Added Raf. "Plus, the new base has a better internet connection."

Miko slumped her shoulders in disappointment but said nothing. Jack watched on in anticipation of seeing his mother and Arcee again.

Ratchet stood up straight. "Well, that should be everything." He looked at the young humans. "Are you three ready to depart?"

"Lock and load!" said Miko excitedly.

Suddenly a beeping noise was heard and flashing readouts began appearing from the central monitor. Ratchet frowned and walked over to the control panel. "Ratchet, what is it?" Asked a concerned Jack.

Ratchet's eyes widened. "A signal has begun transmitting from this location." He said tapping a few buttons. "It's an open broadcast GPS frequency!" He spun round to face the kids. "Who's using their cellphone?!"

The kids took a step back and while doing so revealed their empty hands. "Chill dude, we know not to use them." Said Miko quickly.

With a look of fear on his face the medic turned back to the monitor. "We need to stop the transmission! The decepticons can see it." He stabbed at buttons frantically, trying to find the off switch. It was to no avail and the signal continued to transmit.

"It's not coming from the _Harbinger's _mainframe." He quickly deduced. He tried a different approach. Using the systems available to him he set about pinpointing the signal's exact location.

"The GPS is emanating from the top deck of this ship." He said.

"Somebody's outside using their cellphone?" asked Raf.

Ratchet looked at the readouts. The signal was displaying coding that was not regular with normal cellular phones. At least, not by the children's phones.

But then he saw the phone number by which the phone was operating.

"Hang on," he started. "That looks like…"

**The **_**Nemesis…**_

Megatron had a headache the size of Unicron. Knock Out had given him something to deal with it, but they weren't helping much. The decepticon doctor had also ordered him to lie back on the examination table for a while in order to get some strength back. By now he was feeling a bit better physically, but the headache still acted as a reason to take it easy.

He was furious.

Darkmount had fallen. By both Autobot and human hands. Somehow by sheer luck and a newly-upgraded Optimus Prime, the enemy had won the battle. Sure, they may have still had their warship, but it was humiliation without end on their part.

"Shockwave," he greeted as the scientist walked into the med bay. "Has there been word on the whereabouts of the beast?"

"None, Lord Megatron." replied Shockwave. "We have been unable to locate where the autobots groundbridge transported it to. Our most logical option is to wait for it to follow its homing instincts and find its way back to the ship."

Megatron sighed in annoyance. Could this day get any worse?

Suddenly without announcement Soundwave strode into the room, pushed straight past Shockwave and came to stand at Megatron's left side.

"What is it?" he asked.

A geographical map appeared on Soundwave's visor showing a mountainous area with a peculiar looking object set in it. On top of this object a red dot blinked and tiny readouts of data began scrolling down next to it.

"Why are you showing-" Megatron began.

But then he stopped as he looked at the data scrolling down.

The red dot was a signal.

A GPS signal.

Megatron's energon began to boil. Rage began to build up as he recognized the signal and what it represented.

It represented mockery.

"He will pay for his deception!" he roared as he lifted himself off the examination table into a standing position.

Shockwave moved forward. "My liege, it is not advisable-"

"Out of my way!" Megatron pushed his science officer out of his way as he rushed out the door. "Soundwave, open up a bridge to the signal's location! NOW!"

**The **_**Harbinger**_**…**

The sun cast a great glare over the top deck of the abandoned warship. There was a hiss of hydraulics as a hatchway opened and Ratchet stepped out into the daylight with the kids following close behind.

Stepping to face the deck, Ratchet immediately saw what he was looking for.

There, near to the edge of the deck, back turned towards them with cellphone in hand, was Alex.

The kids also saw him and looked in amazement.

"Alex!" Raf called out.

Alex turned round to face them. A look of concern on his face.

"Good, you guys are still here." He called back.

"Alex, you need to turn the GPS off now!" shouted Ratchet. "The decepticons-"

"Can see it, yes." Cut in Alex as he put his cellphone in his pocket. "With any luck they'll have picked it up straight away."

Jack started "Alex, what are you-"

"Don't say anything." Alex cut in again. "One wrong word can ruin everything. Say nothing and we can all get something out of this."

"What do you mean?"

Alex said nothing.

There was a brief silence. Suddenly a groundbridge portal just off the far edge of the warship's deck came into existence. A second later a giant silver bullet shot through it into the air. The sound of transformation could be heard as the leader of the decepticons landed on the deck with a terrible thud, sword already drawn.

The three children leapt back in surprise and fear and Ratchet drew his blades and stood above the kids in order to protect them from the imminent fight. However Alex remained standing where he was but took an almost battle-like stance.

The moment Megatron touched down he advanced on the teenager with frightening speed, raising his weapon and roaring with rage.

In a split-second a ball of orange energy had appeared in Alex's hand and grew rapidly in size and power. Without hesitation he threw to the ground just in front if the titan. The energy hit the floor with a shattering crack and a shower of sparks leapt up momentarily knocking Megatron off balance, forcing him to pause his attack. The floor was left smoking as Megatron regained his concentration and stared at the boy. He roared again in fury and moved to continue his attack. However he was stopped as Alex immediately held up his hand.

"We could either fight, during which I could possibly blow your head off, OR you can stop for a moment and listen to what I have to say!" he said quickly and out loud.

"And why should I listen to anything you have to say?!" Megatron shouted back, itching to reach the boy and crush him underfoot.

"Because you don't want your head ripped off?" Tried Alex.

The response to that came in the form of a snarl.

"Because we have things to discuss." He said simply, keeping his hand up.

Megatron hesitated. The kids and Ratchet were amazed at how Alex was capable of keeping the 'con at bay. However that didn't stop them fearing what could potentially happen next. Ratchet didn't move a muscle as he stood over the three young ones.

Incredibly, Megatron tensed down and lowered his blade, though keeping a very angry look on his face. At the same time, Alex lowered his hand, but kept his battle stance.

"First things first," Alex started. "Hello Megatron."

"Specimen." Megatron grumbled spitefully.

This annoyed the teenager. "My name is Alex. Please learn it."

"Forgive me if I find it difficult to grant you any sort of courtesy considering how you lied to me." Said Megatron angrily.

Alex sucked air through his teeth. "So, you found out about that huh?"

"Oh, indeed." Snarled Megatron. "And I am surprised the autobots and their pets still stand to be in your presence after you lied to them as well."

"That is because they had no idea that I was even here. And more importantly, Ratchet and the kids are acting as witnesses to what I am currently doing." Alex explained.

"And what exactly are you doing?"

"Showing them where I stand in all this, even though they may still not trust me afterwards."

Megatron snorted. "Why seek their trust when you already have Optimus Prime's?"

Alex shrugged. "I haven't seen Optimus since I left the Autobot base a day before they left for Cybertron. And thinking about all the things that have been happening, I really have no idea how he's going to react when he sees me." He explained.

Suddenly Alex had a brainwave. "Hey, that could act as an example of how I don't know what's going to happen."

Megatron's optics narrowed. He wasn't swallowing this.

"You're lying 'Alex,'" he said. "You are lying because when we last met, you told me that future events had been changed due to your presence in this conflict. This was proved a lie, as you technically admitted it just moments ago. You also lied to me about not having knowledge of your own future, as you knew to come to this abandoned ship and await the autobots arrival." He took a step forward.

Alex held up a finger. "Ah. That last one wasn't a lie." He explained. "There IS NO mention of me. None whatsoever. Still don't know why. And in my defense for the first lie, at that time I was going under the impression that because I made contact with the autobots, the future had already been changed. But as you can see, I was proved wrong of that."

"And can I be sure that you are not simply lying to me again?" asked Megatron angrily.

"You think I'm stupid enough to pull the same trick with you twice?" asked Alex.

Megatron considered this. This human was indeed watching what moves he made and what he said to him. This little confrontation was turning out to be him trying to protect himself. This was a self-preservation stunt. But it wasn't working.

"Very well," he started. "Say you were telling me the truth. If so, that means you still have knowledge of future events. What is there now to prevent from using all my available resources to track down and torture you for that knowledge? Or better still, simply you returning with me back to my warship?"

"Because you come any closer to me and I will put a large hole in you." Alex held up his hands. "But more importantly, because you didn't. We shouldn't be even having this chat right now. You're supposed to be back on your ship recovering from your little 'accident' with the fusion core."

Megatron shifted uncomfortably.

"And that's what I'm going to recommend you do now." Alex continued. "I suggest you use the next few days to regain your strength. You're going to need it for what's coming."

"And that would be?" Asked Megatron with seriousness in his voice.

Alex lowered his hands. "Ultimately, I don't know. My knowledge only extends so far. But for the next few days possibly weeks…"

A tiny grin began to appear on Alex's face. "Spoilers." He said.

"_That was so worth it."_ He thought.

Megatron glanced back at their audience. Ratchet had been watching this with complete concentration and fascination, taking in every word for future preference. The kids were now just staring open-mouthed at Alex and Megatron.

Megatron turned back to Alex. "So, I have gained nothing by 'answering your call.'" He said rhetorically.

"Not at all." Alex quickly said. "In fact, I'm about to give you what you wanted from the very start."

"And that would be?"

Alex took a deep breath. "Information."

"What?!" exclaimed the kids.

Megatron raised an eyebrow. "You're willing to disclose details about future events?"

"Alex what are you doing?!" shouted Jack.

"Jack be quiet." Alex said forcefully without looking back.

"No doubt you are careful about what you reveal about the future. How do I know that the information is of value to me?" Megatron asked.

"Granted, right now it won't seem valuable." Replied Alex. "This is stuff is to be used in the long-run. But before I give you anything, I want your word that when I'm done, you're gonna leave here without a fuss. The autobots have work to do and I need to see Optimus again. Do I have your word?"

There was a pause. Meanwhile Megatron considered Alex's request. Eventually, he nodded.

"Excellent." Said Alex. He opened his mouth to speak again but he was interrupted.

"Alex the team will never forgive you." Ratchet said. He had taken all of this in and realized what the implications were of Alex's revealings.

The kids also joined in sensing the danger. "Alex don't do this." Jack said.

"This is us getting something out of this?!" said Miko.

Alex looked to the youngest of the three. Raf had been completely frightened of the mere fact of Megatron standing before him, and he was far from comfortable even though he knew Alex was keeping the giant at bay.

"Raf, do you trust me?" Alex asked him.

The kid looked at Alex. Despite the fear, anxiety and confusion running through him, he gave a small nod.

That was enough motivation for Alex to go forth. Spinning round he faced Megatron, ready to give his closing.

"Right!" he started. "Megatron, I am now going to tell you two things. Pay close attention please as I will not be repeating them."

Megatron lowered his head a bit with a deep frown on his face.

"Number one." Alex began. "Megatron, while I am not able to advise you on what future actions to take, I can tell what actions NOT to take. Therefore this piece of info comes in the form of a strong warning."

He paused for a breath.

"I will now direct your attention to the three humans standing behind me." He gestured to the back of him. The kids stood to attention when they heard them being mentioned but then started shifting uncomfortably where they stood due to the fact that Megatron was now looking straight at them. Ratchet also looked down at them in surprise.

"You might remember them. You stuck them in jars, shipped them to Cybertron and exchanged them for a bunch of keys. An act which I approve of. You saw how much the autobots cared for them, and from what I've seen in other cybertronian scenarios, it is more than you realize. So much that if you kidnap, maim, hurt or kill any one of them, there will be no place for that you could run or hide from Optimus Prime's wrath. So simply put, you go anywhere near the kids, you guarantee the autobots an overall victory, and there's nothing you would be able to do to prevent it."

Megatron looked back at the kids. They were taking turns looking at Alex and then at Megatron, obviously confused and surprised at what had just been said.

Alex didn't waste time. He continued. "Number two, and this comes in the form of an experiment. Megatron, because of there being no mention of me in the timeline, I don't know if my presence here was meant to be or not. That in turn brings up the question of whether anything I do in the future could affect the outcome of events."

He took a breath. Megatron remained attentive to him.

"You see, the majority of forthcoming events are due to and based around an idea that you had after the fall of Darkmount. An idea that will take the war into a new direction and is what my knowledge is predominantly on. You may have already had this idea but I cannot be sure of that. Therefore I am going to now tell you what this idea is. You must then say either you have had this idea already, or that this is the first you have heard of it. If in the case of the latter, it means that I was meant to give you the idea and will signal that any future actions of mine will not change anything, whatever I may end up doing. If in the case of the former, it means I will have to distance myself from this conflict if I want things to play out as I know them. And based upon the future I know, I think it is in everyone's best interests that my version of the future is the one that happens. Understand?"

Megatron continued to frown at Alex but he muttered "Understood."

"Good. Here goes." Alex leaned forward a bit. "That predacon of yours, the one that Shockwave cloned. Are there plans for any more of them?"

Megatron remained quiet for a while looking at Alex. It was evident that he was thinking deeply. Upon hearing this question being asked Ratchet instantly tensed up.

"Yes" Megatron said eventually. "It is a project that is being considered. However resources-"

"Good!" Alex threw up his arms. "That is all I needed to hear. Sorry but I must ask you not to reveal anything else. We do have an audience here, you know."

Megatron shut his mouth. Slightly annoyed that he had been cut off but weary of revealing information to the Autobot and the humans.

"Now," Alex stood up straight. "That is all I needed to say. I am now going to depart with Ratchet and the kids and you are going to head back to the _Nemesis _for some recovery time."

Megatron continued to gaze at Alex for what seemed an eternity. Finally he said "Soundwave, re-open the groundbridge." Almost immediately the green portal appeared behind. Megatron then looked to Ratchet and the kids.

"Tell Optimus he may have won the battle but the war continues." He said. He started to move but then he turned back to Alex, a look of utter menace.

"This is not over, 'Alex.' Do not think you can delay anything by merely, what do you humans say? 'Sweet-talking.'" He threatened.

Alex wouldn't take this threat lying down. He had just held the leader of the decepticons at bay by talking. He was on a roll.

"Meanwhile take comfort in knowing that I'm not allowed to kill you." He replied in dark and low tones.

To receive such a threat from a human was surprising to Megatron to say the least. Despite of it he simply sneered before turning around and walking into the swirling green vortex. It closed behind him leaving silence.

For a few seconds nobody said anything. Alex was breathing heavily and constantly blinking while the others looked at him to respond.

Suddenly he giggled quietly. It escalated into a throaty laugh. Frowns appeared on everyone's faces as Alex clapped his hands.

At the moment, there was nothing on Earth that could match the level of cockiness and relief Alex was at. Suddenly he leapt into the air and whooped for joy. Spinning round he faced his audience and pointed a finger.

"AND THAT'S HOW YOU TALK TO A TITAN!" He shouted. "DAMN, I'M GOOD!"

Ratchet and the kids, having seen what had just happened, could find nothing to say.

"You were wondering what you would get out of this, Miko?!" Asked Alex as he hopped towards them. "I basically just saved you three's lives! Sorry I can't say the same for you, Ratchet, but I doubt you're in any danger anyway. Now then!" he said excitedly as he walked right past them. "Let me just grab my stuff and let's get the hell out of here. You have no idea how sick of this place I am and how big my craving for coffee is right now." He was almost at the hatchway leading inside when he heard a voice.

"Alex, stop right there." Ratchet ordered sternly.

Surprised by the medic's first words Alex stopped and turned round to face them. "Yes, my good doctor." He asked cheerfully.

The frown on Ratchet's forehead was deep enough to leave permanent lines. "While I may have some understanding of what just happened here, you are going to have great difficulty explaining-"

"That's because I'm not going to." Interrupted Alex. "I am going to let you guys explain it to the others for two good reasons. One, everybody already has trust issues with me so they'll have a hard time swallowing anything I say. And two, you three's autobots aren't going to give me chance to explain because they will most certainly have their weapons trained on me at all times. I can already see that happening."

"You're not scared about what team Prime might do to you when you walk into the new base, or what we could do to you now because of what you didn't tell us?" asked Jack with evident anger in his face.

Alex looked at the teenage with raised eyebrows, amazed that he was so blind to what he had just seen him do.

"My dear Jack," he said with his voice dripping with sarcasm. "I just gave Megatron himself a talking to and then threatened him afterwards, Putting a massive target on the back of my head! That combined with me not being able to see my family or friends ever again, you can begin to see that my value on my life is decreasing rapidly. The only person who scares me currently and whom I'm worried about right now, is Optimus Prime. But I'm pretty sure he'll be quite understanding after hearing how I just took the heat off you three."

The three children were shocked at how cocky Alex was acting. Ratchet's eyes were full of concern about how the autobots, particularly Arcee, would react upon Alex's return.

A smile on his face, Alex said "Well, are we just gonna sit here or can we get going?"

**The **_**Nemesis…**_

Shockwave was cataloguing his tools on his workbench when Megatron stumbled into the lab. The scientist immediately looked up from his work and stood to attention.

"Lord, Megatron. You have returned." He said. "I strongly recommend you rest. You suffered quite-"

"Shockwave," Megatron said. "What did you require to clone the predacon?"

"My liege?" asked a confused Shockwave.

"And is it possible for you to clone more of them?"

The sudden interest in his work surprised Shockwave. Nevertheless he answered.

"Of course, Lord Megatron." He said. "It is merely a case of finding a sample of their CNA to clone them from."

"Excellent." Said Megatron. "We will divert our resources to the finding of such material."

"Why the sudden interest, my liege?" asked the decepticon scientist.

Megatron smirked. "I have come with a promising idea for a new project."

**To be continued…**


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21 **

**Hangar E…**

The autobots had assembled after retrieving equipment and supplies from Ultra Magnus's ship and placing them inside the new base. The military hangar was not the biggest of accommodation but it served their needs just fine. After arriving the Autobots had just spent an hour talking to and admiring Optimus and his upgrades. Their leader was also very pleased at seeing his team again and that they were all fine. There were just some members missing though, but they would be arriving shortly.

Standing facing the raised platform on which June Darby and Agent Fowler were standing on Ultra Magnus put a finger to his ear as his comm link activated.

"Ultra Magnus, we are standing by to bridge to your location." Came Ratchets voice.

"Copy that." Confirmed Magnus.

Upon hearing Magnus Bumblebee emitted a few short beeps and whirs. "Indeed, Bumblebee." Said Optimus. "It will be good to see our young friends again."

But the commander was not finished on his comm link. A few seconds he signed off with a look of puzzlement on his face.

"What is it, Commander?" enquired Arcee.

"Ratchet informed me that they will not be arriving alone. Apparently there is someone else travelling with them."

Ultra Magnus looked to Optimus and was shocked to find a look of approval at what he had just heard on his face.

"Sir," he enquired. "Do you know who this person is?"

"I do, Ultra Magnus." Optimus replied. "His name is Alex."

**The **_**Nemesis…**_

"My Liege, are you truly telling us that you got this ridiculous idea from a human?" asked Starscream, shocked at what he had just heard.

Shockwave, Knock Out, Soundwave and himself had been called to the bridge an hour after Megatron's return. The decepticon leader had immediately presented the idea to his chief science officer but still needed to explain the details of it to him as well as what he had learnt on his trip. Despite Shockwave's advice to take it easy Megatron had retreated to the brig for some solitude. Now though the three decepticons stood in front of their master with his back turned towards them, taking in what they had just been told.

"Not just a human, Starscream." Said Megatron as he looked at the clouds through the front observation panel. "A smart and dangerous human." He turned round to face them. "Shockwave, has Soundwave briefed you on the boy and his abilities?"

"He has, Lord Megatron." Confirmed Shockwave. "However I find it difficult to understand how you were not able to secure him upon arrival, thus avoiding our current situation regarding him."

"Argh," growled Megatron. "Unfortunately he was quick to make contact with the autobots upon entering our reality, thus securing temporary safety. Another factor being that the dimensional bridge had deposited him in proximity to the Autobots former base, a mistake partially of my doing."

"Forgive me my liege, but if what you say is correct, this 'Alex' will try to distance himself from the Autobots." Knock Out offered. "I mean, you did act as if you didn't get this idea from him."

"True, Knock Out. But I doubt the Autobots will allow him, not when they now know that he knows the future." Replied Megatron. "But more worryingly, because he did give me this idea his theory of any action he takes not affecting future outcomes is proven true, therefore even if we do manage to complete this…'Project Predacon,' there is the threat of it not being successful. I say this as it is clearly evident that though Alex speaks of not intervening, any action he takes is in some way beneficial to the Autobot cause."

"It would make sense," commented Starscream. "He is human after all, and we have made it clear that we want to conquer this planet."

"Indeed it is logical." Shockwave agreed. "But what are our current orders concerning the boy?"

"If encountered, approach with caution." Stated Megatron.

"Seriously, my lord? Caution?" frowned Knock Out.

Megatron turned his back to them again. "He is not to be underestimated. He has had time to master his ability, and he is not afraid to retaliate. Furthermore, pay close attention to what he says. He is bound to make mistakes with what he reveals and explains." Megatron smirked. "Before I departed, he openly threatened me." The smirk morphed into a snarl. "I vow that he will not live to realize the mistake of doing such."

The other four decepticons turned to look at each other with faces of concern. They all knew what their leader was capable of if provoked. And while they may have only read up on the human's profile, it was clearly evident he did not value his life. However Knock Out and Starscream found it slightly impressive that a mere human, albeit a supposed intelligent and abnormal human, had stood up to Megatron in such a way. To Shockwave and Soundwave, that action was just simply deemed illogical.

Megatron turned back to his officers. "Now then. Tell me, Shockwave. What is required to initiate predacon cloning procedures? Do we require anything specialized?"

"All of the equipment needed for the process can be found onboard, my liege." Replied the scientist. "However we will require the key element. Predacon CNA."

"And where exactly will we be able to find fresh CNA of beasts?" Smirked Starscream.

"As we only require one strand, it would be logical to extract it from their endomatter." Said Shockwave turning to the seeker.

"From remains on Cybertron?" enquired Megatron.

"No, my lord." Said Shockwave. "It would be logical and easier to extract it from predacon remains here on Earth."

**The **_**Harbinger…**_

"Right. Do we have everything we need?" asked Alex somewhat cheerfully.

He was standing with backpack in hand as he watched Ratchet and the three kids load up their arms with cables, drivers, levers and an assortment of other things.

"I think so." Said Raf as he precariously balanced a drive over some looped cabling on his arms.

"Here, let me help." Said Alex as he strode over to the young boy and plucked the driver from the top.

Jack and Miko looked on as Ratchet typed in sets of coordinates. "You're not afraid of how our bots are going to react when you walk through the groundbridge? You don't know what will happen. Do you?" asked Jack with a sharp frown on his face.

"Activating groundbridge." Said Ratchet as he pulled down a switch. In front of the wall just behind Alex a swirling green portal crackled and sparked into existence. Alex looked round to look at it for a few seconds before turning back to the others. He grinned slightly.

"You're right, Jack." He said. "I have absolutely no clue what's going to happen next. But do you know what I think?" He started walking backwards towards and into the emerald vortex. "I think that when I go through this groundbridge…"

**Hangar E…**

"…I'm going to come out the other side," continued Alex as he appeared from the portal in the military base still walking backwards. "And find three, maybe four Autobots pointing their guns at me."

He turned slowly and sure enough he found himself staring up at the gun barrels and frowning faces of Arcee, Bulkhead, Bumblebee and Ultra Magnus.

Alex's eyebrows lifted with surprise. "Commander, you don't even know who I am. Why are YOU pointing a gun?"

**To be continued…**


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

**Hangar E…**

The only response Alex got was the deepening of Ultra Magnus's frown. A moment later the portal behind Alex flashed and Ratchet and the kids stepped through. Another moment later it closed behind them and silence filled the hangar. Magnus, Arcee, Bulkhead and Bumblebee didn't move a muscle as they pointed their weapons down at Alex. From behind the kids Ratchet walked over to Wheeljack and Smokescreen, who stood watching the showdown with blank looks on their faces, while Optimus gazed on from the groundbridge console, making no attempt to get involved.

Alex noticed this and knew what was implied. He had promised Optimus that he would explain himself in exchange for helping him escape. Optimus had done his part, now he was waiting on Alex to make do on his.

But before he could open his mouth he turned to see June Darby appear from the shadows, walk quickly over to the small group and grab her son in a tight embrace. After a moment she let go of him and turned back and stepped forwards up to Alex. A look of pure murder on her face.

"Did you know that these children would be kidnapped from school?" she asked really slowly.

Alex looked her in the eye. He didn't need to know the future to see what was about to happen.

"Yes." He replied.

June then took another step forward and slapped Alex in the face. His head whipped to the left side as a shot of pain spread through his cheek. Slowly he turned his head back round.

"And did you know that they would be safe?" she asked.

"Yes." Alex replied again.

She slapped him again. Alex closed his eyes and stood still until the pain went away before turning back to face the woman.

"Finished?" he asked.

"I think so." Said June. "But it's not me you've got to worry about now."

"True," Said Alex taking a deep breath. "But you might want to put the kettle on. This may take a while."

"Then make it short." Sneered Arcee. "You don't have long before my patience dries up."

Alex turned round to look up at the two-wheeler. "Then tell me Arcee, what's the first thing you want to know?"

"You might want to watch your tone, boy." Warned Ultra Magnus.

"What, like you told Jack to watch his?" asked Alex.

That knocked the commander off-guard. "How did you-" began Magnus.

"Like I once told everyone here, Commander. I know things." Interrupted Alex. His voice had now reverted to a more serious tone but maintained a slight hint of sarcasm.

Alex then dug his hand into his jacket pocket and took out his cellphone. Turning round he handed to Rafael. "Raf," he said. "See if you can find a cable to connect this to the monitors. There's something I need to show all of you."

Raf took the phone and looked to Optimus for approval. The prime nodded reassuringly. The boy then made his way up the stairs towards the computer banks.

"As I was saying," said Alex turning back to face the Autobots. "What would you like to know, Arcee?"

"Everything should suffice." She replied without battering an eyelid.

"For that we're going to have to wait for Raf to plug my phone in." Said Alex. "In the meantime however I'm open to questions."

"Okay then. Why didn't tell us from the beginning about who you were?"

"Because your first reaction would've been to interrogate me for information. I'm not an idiot, you know."

"And yet you think it's smart to bait Megatron like how you did just now?" Joined Jack.

"He did what?!" exclaimed Ultra Magnus. Upon hearing this all the eyes of the autobot's eyes widened, including Optimus.

"I wasn't baiting him, Jack. I was making a few things clear to him." Alex explained. "If he comes near me, I will rip his head off. If he comes near you, Optimus Prime will rip his head off. And if he tries to change the future by involving me, he'll end up ripping his own head off."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" asked Bulkhead.

"It means I'm not planning to leave this base for a while, 'cause most of the important stuff happens elsewhere."

"Agreed." Stated Ultra Magnus as he lowered his weapons. "You're going to tell us everything that you know of future events, including how you came to know all of it."

"How I know of what I know, sure thing." Replied Alex simply. "But what I do know? I'm afraid that's not going to happen."

"It is not up for discussion, boy. Any information that is beneficial to the Autobot cause-"

"-Will be rendered invalid if I told you." Interjected Alex.

The narrowing of Magnus's optics as he glared down at Alex told him that the commander didn't like being interrupted.

Alex shrugged. "I guarantee that if I told you now, it won't eventually happen." A small grin appeared on his face. "That, and I don't know what would happen to the universe if I did."

Even though he had lowered his weapons, Magnus looked as though he was getting ready to raise them again.

"Also I can tell you right now that it is in everyone's best interest that my version of events get played out." Alex said. "I am in support of the Autobots, after all."

Bumblebee emitted a few chirps and whirs. Bulkhead looked to the scout.

"Agreed, Bee." He turned back to Alex. "Weird way of showing your support for us by not telling us anything."

Alex sighed. They were on the verge of going round in circles.

"My dear Bulkhead," he said. "Think about it. Why would I make such an effort to preserve a particular future when I am in favour of the autobots winning?"

It clicked. Arcee began to go wide-eyed, as was Wheeljack and Ultra Magnus. She began to slowly lower her weapons.

"Are you saying," she said slowly. "That we win?"

Alex stuck his hands into his jacket pockets and took a relaxed stance.

"I don't exactly know how it will all end, 'cause my info only stretches so far, and for the record that point in time is coming up fast. But what I do know, with absolute certainty, is that the decepticons will never conquer Earth."

This revelation was followed by dead silence. After a moment, all three guardians lowered their weapons but continued to stare down at Alex.

Surprisingly, Smokescreen was the first to break the silence. "Woah," he breathed. "You serious?"

All Alex could do was shrug at the mech.

Ultra Magnus snapped out of his stupor and turned towards Optimus. "Sir," he asked. "Were you aware of this?"

"I was" replied the Prime.

"And you did not think to disclose this with your team?"

"It was deemed unwise by Alex and myself alike." Optimus explained. "To divulge such speakings would be tantamount to inviting arrogance and recklessness into the minds of our comrades. As a soldier Commander, you understand that such flaws can lead to severe mistakes being made." Knowing that this was true, Ultra Magnus accepted this reasoning. However Arcee was still not completely convinced.

"Optimus, with all due respect." She said. "Surely you know us better than to think that it would go straight to our heads?"

"I do, Arcee." He replied. "However to Alex's understanding, he has never been mentioned in his version of events. That would stand to reason that you could never have been informed of this information, as he was the one who made me aware of it in the first place."

"And that's why you did that test with Megatron." Ratchet said stepping forward. "You wanted to see if your involvement had affected future events. But why did you specifically talk about-"

"Shhhh!" Alex moved his finger to his lips with lightning speed before holding his hand up to prevent the medic from finishing his sentence. The frowns appeared back on all the autobot's faces.

"Whatever was said during that meeting must never be repeated." He said quickly. "I know you and the kids might have ideas forming over what I told Megatron, but please keep them to them yourselves. I promise that it will come to light soon." He glanced back to the two kids standing behind him. "Same goes for you three. Please."

The drops of sweat beginning to appear on Alex's brow told Ratchet that the boy was being deadly serious. For a moment he was unwilling to comply with the appeal and inform the team of what he had been witnessed to. But upon reminding himself of what Alex had revealed to all of them just moments ago, he reconsidered.

"Very well." He said. "However I must ask that you explain the 'warning' that you gave Megatron."

Alex relaxed. That had been too close. But the look on Ultra Magnus's told him that he could expect trouble from him later.

"What 'warning?'" asked Arcee still frowning.

"He told Megatron that if he tried to hurt us, he would be destroyed by Optimus Prime for sure." Cut in Miko, desperately wanting to be a part of this cool argument.

This explanation was not taken especially well by June, who in response stormed back up to Alex. "Any why exactly did you bring these children back to the attention of that monster?!" She asked in anger.

"My dear Nurse Darby, they were always at his attention. He knows full well that they are playing quite the roll in the autobot's…what shall we call it…success rate, and I don't need to know to the future to know that he's going to try and use them again."

"So why on earth-"

"Because they are probably the most important characters in all of this. Not because of what they have done but because of what they have become. The Autobots have clearly shown that they will go to impressive lengths to protect them, so it's safe to assume that whatever happens to them will have an effect on Team Prime. If Megatron is as smart as he makes out to be, then he's going to avoid these kids from now on."

"And why is exactly is that?" asked Bulkhead.

"Simple. Tell me, Bulkhead. How would you react if Miko got killed by the Megatron?"

Bulkhead went silent and looked protectively at Miko, who had taken a step back upon hearing this example. Arcee and Bumblebee looked to their comrade and then to their respective human partners. The rest of the autobots also kept quiet.

"There wouldn't be a place in the universe Megatron would be able to hide." Alex said. He paused. "Especially from Optimus."

He turned to the Autobot leader. The mech remained mute as he gazed at him.

In Optimus's mind however, it was nothing but muteness. The prime could understand why Alex had done what he did, as it was an effort to protect the children from harm. But Megatron was not one to be perceived as completely submissive to every fact or action that was presented to him, and there was no denying the fact that Alex had indeed brought the warlord's attention back onto the children so soon after the events on Cybertron. He made a mental to speak with Alex concerning his strategies later.

In Ultra Magnus's mind, he wasn't at all convinced by this charade. This human clearly had no idea what he was doing and already the commander could perceive that he would have problems with authority. There was also the worry of if it was even safe for the boy to be in the new base, not just because of the ability which his comrades claims he has, but also of the perceived mental state of the human. He treated this serious situation as somewhat of a game, and Magnus would not stand for it. But before he could open his mouth to express his concerns, opinion and recommendations to the boy and his leader, Bulkhead beat him to it.

"Hold on," said Bulkhead. "You referred to Jack, Miko and Raf as 'characters.' What do you mean by that?"

Suddenly a voice rang out. "Alex," called Raf from over at the computers. "I found a cable for your phone."

"Thanks Raf." Replied Alex. He looked up at the Autobots. There was a smile on his face and he began rubbing his hands together.

"I refer to them as characters, Bulkhead because that's what they actually are. Well, in my eyes." Said Alex somewhat gleefully despite the blanks looks he was receiving.

"Autobots, HOW do I know what I know?"

He raised his hands for effect.

"You're…a TV show."

**To be continued…**

**Author's Note: PART 1 OF THE EXPLANATION COMPLETE! BRING ON THE COMEDY! My apologies for taking so long but this was extremely difficult to write, And I really hope you enjoy it!**


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

**Hangar E…**

The statement was met with blank looks and complete silence. Alex couldn't help but grin.

"Say what now?" asked Arcee, cocking her head to the side.

"I'll say again. You're a TV show." Alex repeated.

Again, silence.

He held his hands up. "I don't know how much more direct I can be." He said.

Another moment passed. Then Miko spoke up. "When you say we're a 'TV show,'" He began. "Are you saying…theme music and everything?"

Alex chuckled slightly. "Yes." He replied. "Theme music and everything."

Miko thought for another moment. "So…we're popular, right?" she tried.

"Kid, you're gonna have to start from the beginning, 'cause you got no-one in this room." Wheeljack said to Alex.

"Yes! Right." Alex replied turning back to the towering titans.

"Autobots, you are a part of what we humans call a franchise." He explained. "This franchise was created back in my world more than 30 years ago. It depicts the classic scenario of good versus evil, aka, a storyline. What I'm trying to say then, is that all of you and this entire universe, are part of a story. Still with me?"

He got a few nods.

"Good. This particular story is the latest in a long line of other stories in this franchise. Or as what we fans know as continuities. While the settings, characters and situations differ in each continuity, their core principle and overview, are always the same."

Alex took a deep breath and spread his arms wide.

"It is the story chronicling the adventures of Optimus Prime and his team of loyal Autobots, in their fight to defeat the evil decepticons led by their tyrannical leader Megatron."

This grand statement was met by looks of bewilderment.

Smokescreen was the first to respond. "What's the name of the franchise?" he asked.

Alex lowered his hands.

"The _Transformers_."

"Coool." Said Miko. A smile lighting her face.

"And what's the name of 'our' continuity?" asked Jack.

"Transformers Prime." Replied Alex simply.

A smile then lit up Smokescreens faceplate. "Nice." He said while nodding his head in a sign of respect.

Ultra Magnus turned back to face the rookie with a look of astonishment on his face.

"Soldier," he asked. "Surely you don't believe any of this?"

"Well why not, sir?" asked the young mech.

"It's absurd!" exclaimed the commander, turning back down to Alex. "What proof could you possibly have of this pile of scrap?"

Alex slid his hands into his pockets. "Would you prefer video or photographic?" he asked.

Behind them Wheeljack made a gagging noise. Refusing to make eye contact with Magnus he looked to the ground, even though everyone could see the smile on his face.

"Okay, so you say we're a TV show." Said Jack walking up to Alex. Suddenly a frown appeared. "We're not…animated…are we?" He asked.

"Afraid so." Alex replied, to which Jack scoffed. "Hey, it's really clever animation." Alex argued. "Apparently you've won some technical awards for it."

"When did the show begin in terms of our time frame?" Asked Arcee.

Alex looked up to the two-wheeler. There was no point in not telling the truth. "The day that Cliffjumper was killed." He replied.

Arcee said nothing, but slowly nodded her head.

"But just out of interest, it was also the day that you guys first met Jack, Miko and Raf." Alex continued.

To this the three guardians looked fondly to their charges. The kids in turn smiled at the memory of the day that their lives had completely changed.

Raf then spoke up. "But does that mean that…your whole world knows about us?"

"Not everybody." Replied Alex. "It is a kids show, after all. But that doesn't stop us fans from agreeing how brilliant it is. How brilliant all you guys are."

This uplifted the atmosphere of the room a bit. The Autobots seemed to become a bit more relaxed (With the exeption of Ultra Magnus) and even Optimus had a look of approval in his eyes.

"So we DO have theme music?" asked Miko getting excited.

Alex grinned at the 15 year-old. "Pick a situation you guys have been in."

Miko began to think of one but Jack beat her to it. "My trip to Cybertron." He stated.

"Ooh yeah!" agreed Miko upon hearing this. She spun round to face Alex. A look of utter excitement etched on her face. "Do you really have…?!"

"You wanna go make us some popcorn?" he asked.

"AWESOME!" Shouted Miko before rushing off, pulling Jack along with her. "And put the kettle on while you're at it, will you?!" Alex called as they vanished.

"You really have a video of me and Jack's trip to Cybertron?" asked Arcee.

"Season 2, episodes 1 to 3. Trilogy entitled 'Orion Pax.' Alex said. Upon hearing the Prime's former name, another piece of the puzzle was slotted into place for the Autobots.

"I don't suppose you have any shots of me in action, do you?" asked Smokescreen, somewhat a little too smugly.

Alex gave him the evil grin. "I have a shot of you blowing your cover to a human."

The smile immediately vanished. "Funny." He returned with a layer of sarcasm. Bulkhead couldn't help but chuckle while Arcee and Bumblebee smiled at the rookie's embarrassment. However the smiles instantly vanished as Magnus took a step closer to Alex.

"If I can return us to more important matters," He began. "What exactly can you offer us?"

"I'm sorry?" asked Alex, slightly confused.

"What information will you provide us in exchange for your sanctuary here?" asked the commander.

Alex was thrown back by the question, so much that he went a bit out-of-line with his answer.

"Would you rather have me out there with nothing to defend myself against Megatron with?" he shot back.

Magnus took another step closer, his position now becoming slightly menacing.

"Upon hearing accounts, you appear to be quite capable of defending yourself." He sneered. "And if that is the case, why should we allow you to remain at this base and put it and the entire team at risk?"

"Commander…" began Optimus.

"Sir, surely you can understand my concern?" Magnus turned to his superior. "If this boy truly is what he claims to be-"

Suddenly a flash of orange light lit the hangar up. Spinning round he saw that an orb of crackling orange energy had erupted from Alex's hand and was now resting in palm, spitting sparks and small bolts of lightning.

After a moment Alex closed his fist and the orb dissipated back into his hand. Silence then filled the hangar as Ultra Magnus just stared down at the human.

"Commander, what more proof do you want?" Alex asked.

"Alex…" Warned Optimus.

If looks could inflict pain, the one currently on Magnus's face would have had Alex rolling on the floor screaming. "What I actually want is the assurance that you won't treat this as a game, boy." The giant mech replied.

Alex looked round the room before looking back up at Magnus. A look of pure seriousness on his face.

"Commander, I hate to break it to you, but this actually is a game." He said. "Except it's not the type of game you were used to in the Elite Guard."

Even though Alex had just revealed previously unknown information about the mech, Ultra Magnus didn't flinch.

"Megatron knows that I'm capable of inflicting quite a bit of damage. Or at least he thinks I can." Alex continued. "Like I said, the time when I don't know what's going to happen is coming up fast. And when it does I will be in the position to advise you on what actions to take or not take, or even help you if needs be. But until then, I need you to act as if I do not exist."

"Why should I do what you say?" Snarled Magnus.

"Because according to my info, you did." Replied Alex. "Like I also said. There's no mention of me, and we need to keep it that way if you want future events to be 'certified.'"

Alex was right. The team knew it and so did the commander. Magnus knew that it would be difficult convincing the team to expel Alex given what he had told them. With extreme reluctance he sighed. "Very well." He said with his voice dripping with menace.

Alex took a deep breath. "However," He said. "I am, right here and now, willing to disclose two pieces of information to you."

"To all of us?" Asked Arcee, suspecting that Alex would actually now just disappear off with Optimus.

"Yes." He replied.

"Alex, is it safe to do so?" Asked Ratchet.

"I don't suspect that it will affect anything. I think it's just important that you take note of them." Alex replied.

"First and foremost; Dreadwing's dead."

This got the attention of everyone on the room. The Autobots looked at each other while Optimus bowed his head.

"You sure?" asked Bulkhead.

"Positive." He replied. "Megatron killed him when he tried to kill Starscream. Dreadwing had discovered that Starscream had tried to resurrect Skyquake. He wasn't exactly happy."

Alex grinned maliciously. "Though I'm sure Megatron will eventually regret which mech he chose to let live."

A moment passed while the Autobots processed this. For Alex's last comment, it seemed probable. Starscream was never a decepticon with a permanent spot in Megatron's good books. . Dreadwing's passing was a blow particularly to Optimus, who still in his spark believed that Dreadwing was always the decepticon most capable of change.

"Second," continued Alex. "I doubt you'll have any problems with MECH from now on, considering what happened to…" He paused. "Silas slash Breakdown."

"What did happen?" asked Bulkhead, interested to hear what had become of his arch-rival.

"After you stopped his satellite, he ended up on Knock Out's dissection table." Alex replied.

There was silence as the gruesome thought was taken in. Ratchet raised his nose in disgust at it, knowing of what techniques and methods the enemy medic had used during the war.

"You sure he isn't still alive?" He asked.

"I highly doubt it." Replied Alex solemnly.

Ratchet was inclined to agree.

"Okaaay!" Miko called as she careening round the corner with her arms full of bags of microwave popcorn. Jack followed behind holding what suspiciously looked like red liquorice.

"Hey, what about the kettle?" asked Alex hopefully.

"Helicopter mom is making some herbal stuff for you." Answered Miko smugly. "Bad luck. C'mon! Let's fire this thing up already!"

"_I am going to eventually need coffee, Miko." _Thought Alex but he said nothing.

Jack and Miko had reached the top level and together with Raf set about making themselves comfortable on the couch in front of the main monitor. The Autobots began crowding round the monitor as well, interested to see what Alex had to show them. Alex meanwhile began making his way up the stairs when he caught Optimus's eye. The Prime gave an approving look but there was something about him that made Alex a little concerned. He made a mental note to speak with Optimus in private after the episode showing.

However he then made brief eye contact with Ultra Magnus.

The commander gave him a stare a cold as ice, never breaking eye contact with the young human. Clenched fists revealed tension and the deep frown showed frustration and possible anger. Alex suddenly became seriously uncomfortable and didn't dwindle in moving up towards the top level. Magnus's eyes continued to follow him though.

Now while all this had been unfolding Agent Fowler had been standing on his platform facing the group and had not said a word during the whole confrontation. He had actually been wanting to address the team with his message of gratitude from the president himself. He decided that it could wait until later, when all had been settled and he had the Autobots full attention. He began to make his way down the ladder.

At the exact same time, deep inside Alex, a few void particles, tiny molecules not even worth registering, began to shiver and make spontaneous and split-second electrical contact with each other, as though agitated. However it was too small to register on a physical level. And after a few seconds the agitation ceased.

**To be continued…**


End file.
